I'm Back: Hickory Dickory Dock
by Love My Fandoms
Summary: (First book in the I'm Back series) Elizabeth 'Lisa' Potter had the perfect life. A protective elder brother, doting parents, fortune, everything a young girl could want. Till her fate started going downhill. Betrayed, isolated and hurt she has returned. And she's out for revenge. She wasn't always like this, but now that she is, she is gonna embrace it. No MaraudersXOC pairing
1. Prologue

**This story is gonna go back and forth between the present and past via flashbacks. This is a revenge story (she is not gonna end up with one of the marauders). **

**I'm just sick of seeing revenge stories where the main character falls in love with one of the bullies who she wants to seek revenge on. Honestly annoying. The characters will stray a bit from there cannon version but not much. Set in an AU universe.**

**Hope you enjoy the story.**

**Song for this chapter is "Natural" by Imagine Dragons.**

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I was sitting in my room lost in thought. My head bobbing to the sound of the jazz song playing on the radio. I took a sip from the glass of wine resting in my hand.

I reminisced of the days before everything had gone wrong.

_"I'm gonna get you Lisa," screamed James barrelling down the stairs._

_A little girl appeared through the doorway ahead of him, squealing in delight. She had short brown hair that was arranged in two plaits and similar chocolate brown eyes. Wearing a blue and black flannel along with black jeans, the girl ran and hid behind the chair on which a man was sitting, reading a newspaper._

_"Daddy help," she screamed, still laughing._

_The man looked up to note the expression on his daughter's face. He had chocolate brown eyes, similar to the girl in front of him and black tousled hair with streaks of grey in them. He wore a white button-up shirt and black trousers. Adorning his face was a pair of rectangular glasses. Putting the newspaper down, he asked with an amused chuckle, "What did you do now kiddo?"_

_Lisa looked at the man with an expression of mock hurt, "Why do you always think it's me?"_

_"Isn't it?" asked the man knowingly._

_She grinned and said, "It is but don't tell mum." He let out a laugh at this, fully enjoying the antics of his children_

_Just then James appeared in the doorway. He spotted the young girl right away and with a furious expression said. "I'm gonna murder you."_

_Lisa let out a childish giggle and said, "You'll have to catch me first Jamie."_

_Just like that, James started chasing Lisa around the room like a cat chasing a mouse. Fleamont Potter looked at their antics chuckling every now and then. They jumped over couches upsetting the cushions, knocked down vases and other decorative pieces and bumped into portraits and pictures, making their inhabitants groan in protest._

_Among all this chaos, a woman entered the room carrying a tray of food in her hand. _

_"Who's making all this ruckus?" she said with a voice full of authority._

_Immediately everyone paused in their tracks, peering at the Euphemia Potter, even the portraits stopped their complaining. She took in the appearance of the room and let of a short huff. When her eyes fell upon her children though, even she couldn't stop her lips from curling slightly into a smile._

_There stood James Potter in front of her, covered from head to toe in green slime. Her eyes then shifted to her daughter who was having a hard time trying to contain her laughter._

_James first looked at his smiling mother and then at his chuckling father with an expression of betrayal._

_Euphemia shook her head in amusement and then took out her wand from her pocket. With one flick of her hand, she restored the room to its original state. She then pointed her wand at James and with a swish of her hand vanished all the slime off him._

_Lisa pouted in disappointed, but her eyes were still filled amusement showing that she wasn't actually that upset. James, on the other hand, was still grumbling under his breath._

_"At the table," Euphemia said, "Now! We don't wanna miss the train."_

_The two kids immediately perked up and rushed to the table. Euphemia slowly followed them and laid down the breakfast on the table. She then took her seat beside her husband, giving him a small peck on the cheek._

_"Not during breakfast, mom" came James' exaggerated response regarding the display of affection. Lisa nodded in agreement. The couple shared an expression of amusement._

_The kids then proceeded to eat the food at top speed, both excited about visiting Hogwarts. This would be James' second year and Lisa's first. James couldn't wait to meet his friends, tell them all about his summer and plan pranks with them. Lisa was excited to visit the place James had been talking about all summer and make amazing friends of her own. _

_After everyone had eaten, they grabbed their luggage and apparated in a secluded alley near King Cross Station, James with his mom while Lisa apparated with her dad._

_Walking into the station, they received some stares from the muggles due to the owl that James was carrying with him._

_The owl was shared by both James and Lisa. It was a sooty great-horned owl whom Lisa had suggested should be called "Ibis", the Latin translation of owl. James had readily agreed._

_They rushed towards the platforms 9 and 10. Lisa already knew what she was supposed to do. She had visited the platform before once to drop her brother off. _

_James went first, running towards the pillar and then disappearing in the blink of an eye._

_Lisa went next. She brushed off her parent's offer to accompany her through the barrier. With confidence, she gripped her trolley and moved forward. Unlike James she didn't run towards the barrier, that would attract unwanted attention. Instead, she calmly walked towards the barrier. Then looking back she leaned against it and slowly eased her way into the barrier. _

_I guess, she should have guessed that entering the platform while looking back could cause an accident, but mistakes happen._

_She crashed along with her trolley into a young boy._

_Falling onto the floor, she groaned in pain. All of her luggage flew off the trolley, lying in a heap on the ground._

_"Lisa," someone exclaimed. Soon James filled her vision along with a shaggy black-haired boy._

_"Hey Sirius," she barely groaned out. She had met the young prankster when he had come to her home during his and James' Christmas break. Those few weeks both of them had bonded over pranking James. It would be an understatement to say that that was the best Christmas ever._

_She heard another groan from somewhere beside her._

_Realising__ that she had crashed into someone, she looked up and immediately said, "I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking."_

_"Clearly," he whispered just loud enough for her to hear. Flushed, she stood up pushing Sirius and James aside. She scrambled to help the boy up who was laying under the weight of her trunk. Pulling her trunk aside, she offered the boy her hand._

_Before she could help him up though a hand pulled her own back. She looked back to see Sirius. "No need Lisa," he said, "It's just my brother, Regulus." He muttered 'Regulus' with a voice filled with loathing._

_Lisa looked back to get a proper look at the boy. Surely enough, now that she paid attention, she could spot the resemblance between Sirius and Regulus. _

_"Sirius," Regulus muttered with the same tone. He stood up and then passed his gaze over all three of them. When his eyes fell on Lisa, she gave him an apologetic look. He ignored this and sneered at them. Straightening his robes, he walked away with long, purposeful strides._

_"How rude," James muttered._

_"Well, I did crash into him," Lisa said, a bit guilty._

_"It wasn't your fault, Lisa," replied Sirius, "He's always an angry git."_

_She looked away sheepishly, still slightly guilty._

_Just then Euphemia and Fleamont enter through the barricade and immediately stop upon seeing the mess around them._

_"Five minutes," huffed Euphemia annoyed, "We left you alone for five minutes and come back to see this?" Fleamont just shook his head and flicked his wand arranging all of Lisa's belongings onto the trolley again._

_ The group then exchanged farewell, and the three kids boarded the train._

How naive I was back then. Believing that those 'I love you's and 'We'll always stick together's were real. They were just empty words. Thrown around to make each other feel better.

I took another sip of my wine.

But the great thing about life is that you learn. You make mistakes, but you easily get a chance to correct them. And I was surely, going to correct them.

"Ma'am," a voice came from the door where a petite girl stood. I raised my head in acknowledgement. "The flight's been scheduled for tomorrow," she continued.

My lips curled into a smirk. "Thank you," I said. She bowed her head slightly in respect and then left.

I raised my glass to my lips and threw my head back, chugging the rest of the drink in one go. I wiped my lips when all of the drink was finished.

It was time to serve certain people with a slight dose of karma. And what better way to do that then revenge?

I'm back.

And I'm ready to play.

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**1st Story: Hickory Dickory Dock**

**2nd Story: Flutes and Nemesis**


	2. Arrival

**Wow! I'm early. For the first time in forever.**

**Music for this chapter is "Death of A Bachelor" by Panic! At the Disco.**

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_She stood outside the great hall with all the other first years, running a hand over her hair trying to smooth it out. Her foot was tapping the stone floor underneath her in a nervous gesture. _

_McGonagall had just left after welcoming everyone and giving them a speech about the houses and stuff, which Lisa had barely paid attention to. She already knew everything about Hogwarts due to her parents and James' numerous tales. Plus, she already knew which house she was gonna be in, Gryffindor, so she didn't need to worry about the sorting._

_All she cared about right now was making a good impression. This was where she was gonna live for the next seven years of her life and she was determined to start it with a bang and not a fizzle. _

_McGonagall returned through the great doors, finally, and instructed them to stand in a line. Once all the first years had complied they were shuffled in through the gates to enter the Great Hall._

_Lisa gasped upon seeing the magnificent room. Her parents and James' various descriptions hadn't even come close to describe how beautiful it actually was. _

_There were four long tables for each house, parallel to each other, and another table at the front for the staff. The tables were covered with golden cutlery ranging from plates to forks to glasses. Candles floated above them illuminating the whole room with a soft yellow light. But the most beautiful was the ceiling. It looked just like the night sky, adorned with thousands of twinkling stars. She had read somewhere that the ceiling was bewitched to look like the sky above. _

_Even though she had grown up with magic, it never ceased to amaze her. _

_She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of someone shouting her name. Her head turned towards the source of the sound. James and Sirius were standing near there seats, cheering and hooting for her. Peter and Remus, who she had met on the train ride, were also cheering though less extravagantly. Lisa grinned and waved at them._

_She then returned her attention to the sorting. McGonagall stood in front of them with a scroll in her hand. She called out the first name, "Auckley, May" who was sorted into Hufflepuff._

_As the sorting continued, Lisa felt her attention drift towards her surroundings, away from the ceremony in itself. Sometimes a familiar name would peak her attention like Xenophilius Lovegood who was sorted into Ravenclaw or Regulus Black who was sorted into Slytherin (not very surprising)._

_Soon her name was called out, "Potter, Elizabeth". She blocked out her brother and his friends' cheering and walked towards the hat with her head held high._

_She sent a charming smile towards Professor McGonagall and nodded her head respectfully. If this was gonna be her head of house for the next 7 years then she might as well start trying to get into the woman's good graces._

_She sat down on the stool facing the great hall with a nervous yet bright smile. The hat was then placed on her head, blocking out her vision, leaving her in a state of semi-darkness._

_"Aah... another Potter aye," the hat started, "You're mischievous like your brother. A prankster too, hmm. I see loyalty to the ones that are closest to you. But you won't fit well in Hufflepuff. No, no... your personality wouldn't fit. I see courage just like your whole family. But you also have an inquisitive mind. You're analytical. Unlike your brother, you plan before acting. There is no rashness in you. You could fit easily amongst the Gryffindor. But that's not where you would meet your true potential." said the hat in her ears. _

_Lisa couldn't help but feel confused._

_"So... I'm a Ravenclaw?" she asked the hat._

_The hat chuckled, "Not quite. The answer is clear child. You'll be-"_

_"SLYTHERIN," the hat announced out loud._

_As the hat was removed from her head, the lights flooded her vision. Her mouth fell open as her eyes sought out her brother's shocked eyes. _

_This couldn't be possible. She was supposed to be a Gryffindor. She was supposed to be in the same house as James and Sirius. She was supposed to live in the Gryffindor tower, she was supposed to praise the lion, she was supposed to be a Potter..._

_A part of her wanted to scream and demand the hat to sort her again, to put her in the right house. Cause Slytherin couldn't be the right house for her! It wasn't possible._

_But she couldn't do anything. She was frozen._

_McGonagall nudged her to get off the stool causing Lisa to stumble slightly as she started getting up. Her mind was blank as she numbly walked towards the Slytherin table, the wrong table. _

_She saw down in the nearest empty spot she could find, surrounded by a mass of green and silver clade students._

_It was safe to say that she didn't care about first impressions anymore. _

I looked out of my car at the familiar, and yet unfamiliar view around me. London had changed a lot since I last lived there. Soon the car came to a halt in front of a towering hotel.

I hung my backpack on my shoulder and pulled up my jacket's hoodie to cover my face just as the chauffeur opened the car door for me. I swung out with a trained grace and slowly walked towards the hotel, my luggage and assistant in tow. Walking through the doors, I sat down in the sitting area lazily scrolling through my phone as I let my assistant take care of checking in

A few moments later, my assistant returned with our keys and we headed towards the penthouse.

Once we had reached, I muttered a short yet polite farewell to her before heading towards my room.

I walked into the bathroom from there and stripped off my clothes. Turning on the shower, I walked under the hot water immediately sighing in pleasure. I dropped the charms on me and felt as my shoulder-length hair increased, tumbling towards my waist. My features morphed as the water ran over them.

I ran a hand through my hair detangling the curly mess.

After a few minutes of showering, I turned off the water. Wrapping a white fluffy bathrobe around my body, I walked out of the bathroom into the penthouse's bedroom.

I headed towards the windows and pulled the curtains open. As the sun's rays hit me I let out a small smile.

I then turned towards the small backpack I always carried with me. I took out a notebook from the bag and looked through its pages.

Finally, finding what I wanted I took out the small piece of paper. Unfolding it I looked at the note scribbled on it. It was the address of a place.

A place I hadn't visited in a long time.

I changed into some clothes and then grabbed my jacket, pulling my hoodie up again. Finally, I stuffed the notebook back into the bag and stored it into my closet, except the paper holding the address which was in my pocket.

I walked out of my room and then departed from the penthouse. I avoided everyone as I made my way out of the hotel.

Out on the street, I grabbed a taxi and showed the driver the address. He immediately took off and drove towards my destination. When we reached, I got down handing the driver the money. He drove just as I started walking up the stairs of the building in front of me with my head down.

All I was praying for was that the people I was looking for still lived there.

I stopped in front of a particular door, and with the slightest hesitance, raised my fist to knock on the firm wood.

I silently waited for a few moments and then finally the door swung open.

A dark brown-eyed, brown-skinned, brunette opened the door. Her straight hair fell towards her mid-back while a few smaller strands framing her angular face. She was decked in a simple white off-shoulder sweater and jean shorts.

"Yes?" she asked in a manner of greeting.

I smirked.

I lifted my head and pulled back my hoodie. I watched as an expression of surprise and recognition passed over the girl in front of me.

"Long time no see," I said, "Right Sarah?"

_Lisa wasn't having a great day._

_She supposed the day had started well enough. _

_The night before she had stayed awake for a long time trying to sort out her thoughts and emotions._

_She had realised that she was overreacting. Slytherin was just a house, it wasn't like it was going to change her. She just needed to accept this little bump in the road and continue with all her plans for Hogwarts._

_So she had skipped into the Great Hall(still marvelling at the beautiful ceiling), in a better mood and ready to make some friends._

_That was until she had heard the conversation at her house's table._

_A group of sixth years had been chatting amongst themselves, gossiping about a muggleborn, mocking and belittling him._

_Lisa had been taught since a young age to stand up against any form of discrimination, blood purity included so she hadn't hesitated to argue with them, hadn't hesitated to call them out._

_What she hadn't anticipated though was the whole house unifying to stand against her and label her a blood traitor._

_She hadn't let that bring her down though. _

_She didn't need to have friends in Slytherin, especially friends who were so prejudiced and narcissistic. She could just make friends in the other houses! So she sat in the different classes, reaching out to the different kids, trying to befriend them._

_But the other houses weren't any better. _

_They were nice and all, that is until they saw the colour of her tie. Then they would either cower or glare at her._

_As she was walking out of the Great Hall after having lunch, she spotted a familiar mop of black hair walking down the stairs and a sense of relief rushed through her._

_"James!" she greeted rushing towards him with a grin. The boy along with his three friends turned towards the source of the voice._

_As soon as James spotted Lisa, his face immediately darkened. _

_"What are you doing here?" asked James, "Traitor."_

_Lisa stopped in her tracks as another bout of shock tumbled through her._

_"What?" she asked, her brows knitted in confusion._

_She looked towards Sirius for some sort of explanation but he wasn't even looking at her. Instead, he was looking at James, laying a hand on his shoulder as if for moral support._

_"Go and play with your Slytherin friends," James continued bitterly, his teeth grit together._

_"James, I..." she started, her eyes flickering over his face, " I didn't choose. I didn't choose to be in Slytherin."_

_"Well you didn't stop the hat either," he said, not waiting for her to reply he started walking away. She grabbed his hand to prevent him from going further._

_"I didn't know. It was just so sudden. I thought the hat..." she was cut off by Sirius ripping her hand off of James._

_"Keep your excuses to yourself," he said before walking away dragging his friends with him, leaving her alone in the courtyard._

_Lisa stared at their retreating backs._

_Her brother had left her._

_She was alone._

_She felt tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. She looked around. There were too many people there._

_So she ran. _

_She ran and ran until she reached an empty corridor. Her rushing feet guided her towards a window and she sunk to the floor beside it, a pillar supporting her back as it hid her from view. She buried her face in her lap as sobs started racking her body._

_She heard footsteps nearby but she ignored them, hoping that the people would not spot her and leave her alone._

_"Are you okay?" came a gentle voice as a hand was placed on her shoulder._

_She jerked her head up and came face to face with a pretty redhead. The girl had emerald green eyes that were filled with kindness and sympathy. She looked away._

_"I.. I'm.. f..f... fine," she stuttered out and immediately cringed upon hearing how pathetic she sounded. She turned her head away as she tried to wipe away her tears. She didn't want anyone to see her like this._

_The girl sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Another boy, whom she hadn't noticed until then sat in front of her. He had black greasy hair and similar black eyes. He was extremely pale and thin making him look kind of like a vampire. It didn't help that the clothes he wore were too big for him._

_"You're brother's a douche, you know," said the girl._

_Lisa looked down staring at her hands. She had forced the tears to stop flowing, but her cheeks were still coloured with the stains and her voice broke as she said, "That's not true," she looked up slightly "I must have deserved it. I did get sorted into Slytherin."_

_The girl huffed in response. "Honestly, there's nothing wrong with being Slytherin. Severus over here is a Slytherin too," gesturing towards the other boy._

_Lisa looked up, not having noticed the colour of Severus(? That's what the girl said right?)'s tie. She looked at the girl and saw her sporting Gryffindor colours._

_Lisa was immediately filled with bitterness. How was it that the girl and the boy were such good friends even though he was a Slytherin and she was a Gryffindor, yet her brother couldn't even speak to her properly?_

_The girl noting her expression spoke then, her voice still as kind and firm, "I'm Lily by the way. __How would you feel about being friends with me and Severus?"_

_Lisa paused for a second, not sure she was hearing Lily right._

_After all that had happened just that morning could she really be making her first friends?_

_She looked at the two, hoping with all her might that Lily wasn't just joking._

_But all she saw in Lily's eyes was an earnest ask for friendship (though she couldn't tell what Severus was feeling through his poker face)._

_She felt herself forget about her brother as an excited grin spread across her face. _

_"Yes! Of course!" she said sticking out her hand for them to shake, "I'm Elizabeth, Elizabeth Potter. But call me Lisa," Lisa continued giddily._

_"You forgot to take your timetable," said Severus in a long droning voice holding it out for her._

_"Thank you," she exclaimed. They then went towards their respective classes, and even as she separated from her second-year friends, she couldn't push down the happiness that was bubbling inside of her._


	3. Reconciliation

**This chapter is gonna be a bit short. It also won't have any flashbacks.**

**Also the song for this chapter is 'Wide Awake' by Katy Perry.**

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A smile came over Sarah's face. "Lisa," she breathed out and gleefully moved forward to hug me which I reciprocated with equal enthusiasm. She ushered me inside and closed the door behind me.

I took in the apartment. "You never redecorate, do you?" I said seeing how the flat hadn't changed a bit since I last saw it.

She laughed in response, "Nope. I blame Jean for it though."

As if on cue a man walked out of a room. He had short brown hair and a rectangular face adorned with brown eyes. Wearing a black Green Day shirt and grey track pants, he ruffled his hair as he walked in.

"Who's at the d..." he started before his eyes fell on me.

"Lisa?" he asked. I just nodded in response, a smile decorating my features.

A grin split across his face. "Lisa," he said. He looked at Sarah and then back at me. Then suddenly he jumped, throwing a fist into the air. "Lisa!" he exclaimed, "Lisa's back." He ran across the room and with full force crushed me into a bear hug.

I laughed and hugged him in return. I felt a pair of arms wrap around me from the side and shifted to fit Sarah into our hug.

"Yes," Jean exclaimed, "The trio is together again." Sarah and I laughed at the childish term, nostalgia flooding through me. For a few moments, we just stayed like that, hugging each other. It almost felt like I was a teenager again. When everything was so much simpler.

But it wasn't. And this thought broke me out of this feeling of bliss. I broke the hug and the others slowly followed suit. Still smiling, we walked towards the couch, Jean excitedly whooping every now and then.

"You still wanna do this," I asked giving both of them a meaningful look.

"Of course we do," said Sarah, "We've thought this out Lisa."

"Good," I spoke, "Cause once you start helping me, you don't get to leave."

"Whatever, whatever," said Jean, "Now tell us what the plan is."

I shook my head at this. They didn't even know the plan and yet they were willing to help me.

I was grateful for having such amazing friends. Even though Jean and Sarah were muggles, they had more brains than that whole wizarding community combined.

I cracked my knuckles and leaned forward, a smirk pulling at my lips.

"Here's how it goes..."

I apparated in front of a crooked house.

Explaining the plan to Sarah and Jean had been quite enlightening, the two intelligent muggles pointing out and correcting any flaws I might have overlooked. Getting in touch with Sarah and Jean had also been easy. I already had their address and the two already knew the reason I was doing all this.

Connecting with the person I was going to meet, would be more... complex.

I walked up the front steps and knocked on the door. My eyes wandered over the unique plants that grew on the front yard as I waited for someone to answer.

A young girl answered the door after a few moments.

"Could I help you?" she asked in an airy voice, her wide silver eyes seemingly peering into my soul.

"Hello," I said with a polite smile, "Is your father here?"

She nodded her head and then looked back into the house calling out for her father.

A man soon appeared at the door with silvery hair similar to his daughter's. "Yes?" he asked.

"Mr Lovegood," I said, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm here for the interview details. I believe an owl had been sent in advance."

"Ah yes," he said, "Come in, come in. Luna, could you please bring some tea up for Ms...?"

"Brown," I lied easily.

"Yes, Ms Brown."

He led me up some stairs and took me into a study as Luna went to prepare the tea. The study was bustling with movement. A printer lay in the corner, printing our stacks of newspapers. Quills were furiously scribbling over some parchment in another corner. Some photographs were being developed and hung near the window to dry on their own. In the centre of the room sat a desk with crumpled paper and spare pieces of parchment strewn around carelessly. Behind the desk was a board filled with newspaper cuttings, certificates and photos of the Lovegood patriarch with his daughter and wife.

Xenophilius took a seat on one side of the table and gestured for me to sit on the other side. As I took my seat, he grabbed a parchment and then scrambled around his desk muttering about a quill.

Not finding one he got up towards a closet to presumably look for one.

When his back was turned around, I pulled out my wand. "No need for a quill Xeno," I said and just as he was turning around to give me a confused expression I pointed my wand at him and muttered, "Memoria."

A glazed expression came over Xenophilius' face, his face turning monotonous as his shoulders slumped.

I concentrated on the spell as for a few seconds making sure the spell took its desired effect.

Once I was done I put my wand hand down as Xenophilius snapped out of the trance.

His eyes focused on me again this time holding recognition in them that I hadn't seen before.

"L- Lisa?" he whispered, his voice disbelieving, his eyes blown wide.

"Hello Xeno," I replied leaning forward, glad that the spell had worked, "Ready to publish an article?"


	4. Me

**This chapter also won't have any flashbacks. Hope you enjoy. Also majority of the chapter won't be from Lisa's perspective.**

**The song for this chapter is 'Blank Space' by Taylor Swift.**

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James POV

An owl fluttered into the dining hall where I was sitting, landing right in front of my breakfast.

When it had settled onto the table, I reached out to untie the parcel from the owl's leg and dropped a galleon into the pouch hanging from its neck. The bird then flew out of the room in a flurry of feathers.

Just at that moment, Lily walked downstairs from her room after taking a shower.

"Paper's here," I announced, smiling at her.

"Anything interesting," she asked, returning the smile. She sat down near the table on the chair beside me. Pip, our house elf, appears with a pop placing a plate of toast and eggs in front of her and then disappears similarly.

I carefully remove the tie from around the newspaper and unfold it. Surprisingly, I find not one, but two newspapers rolled together. Curiously I hold the second newspaper out to read the heading.

"Honey," I say causing Lily to look up. "Did you order the Quibbler?" I ask confused.

She looked towards the paper and realisation seemed to dawn on her face. Shaking her head she said, "No, but I heard the Quibbler has come into partnership with the Daily Prophet. Both the newspapers are going to be delivered together from now on."

"Why would the Daily Prophet come into partnership with a newspaper like the Quibbler?" I asked, utterly perplexed.

"Apparently Xenophilius Lovegood has paid a handsome fee for this partnership," she said shrugging.

I barked out laughing at this, "Whoa! I didn't know good old Lovegood had so much money with him."

"Neither did I," admitted Lily smiling at my laughter.

At that moment Harry, our son entered the room rubbing his eyes wearily. "Mornin' mum, dad," he whispered stifling a yawn. We greeted him in return as my attention returned to the Daily Prophet.

Lily grabbed the Quibbler from me, scanning the articles with an amused expression on her face. Pip appears again to place Harry's bowl of cereals in front of him and then disappears. We all sit in silence, Lily reading the Quibbler, me reading the Daily Prophet and Harry enjoying his breakfast.

After a few moments, our daughter, Alyssa walked into the room still in her pyjamas and her hair a ruffled mess. "Good morning," she said in a tone similar to that of Harry when he had entered the room. As she sat down next to Harry, right across from Lily, Pip appears for the third time that morning to serve another bowl of cereals to the little girl. She was a petite girl, with red flaming hair like her mother and hazel eyes which she had acquired from her father.

Alyssa was a year younger than Harry. Both of them were attending Hogwarts at the moment, Harry in his fourth year while Alyssa was in her third year. Both had been sorted into Gryffindor, to my great pride.

She dug into her food and leaned towards her brother, whispering to him something with a soft grin on her face which the sibling returned, whispering something back. I shifted my attention back to the newspaper article that I had been reading.

"No freaking way," came Alyssa's voice.

Before I could realise what was happening, the Quibbler had been snatched out of Lily's hand by my 13-year old daughter.

"Wh.." Lily started confused.

"No way! No way! No way!" Alyssa squealed, scanning the paper with incredible speed, "I can't believe it."

"What happened Alyssa?" Lily asked.

Alyssa held out the paper for Lily to see. I also leaned in to see what the excitement was about. The page held an article in the celebrity section. The article featured the pictureof a woman who was singing into a mic in front of her, her shoulder jumping to some music which we couldn't hear. She has blonde hair and blue eyes with striking intensity in it.

"Mica Strong is coming to London!" Alyssa exclaimed, "And all the way from New York."

I exchanged a glance with Lily.

"And," I began, "Who is that?"

Alyssa's jaw dropped. She looked at both me and Lily with a look of incredulity on her face.

"You. Don't. Know. Who. Mica Strong is?" she asked pausing in between almost every word. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Harry shaking with silent laughter.

"No?" said Lily unsure.

"Oh no worries," Alyssa said sarcastically, "Mica Strong is just an amazingly famous singer who has just BLOODY REVOLUTIONISED MUSIC IN THE WIZARDING WORLD!"

I winced at the volume of Alyssa's voice. Harry now had to clamp a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from laughing.

"She's the person who has introduced pop music into the wizarding world. She's a singer-songwriter sensation even in the muggle world. She's my idol. I literally have her posters littered all over my room. How do you guys not know who she is?" Alyssa continued to rant.

I stiffened at this. This was why Harry was laughing so much. We didn't even know who Alyssa's favourite singer, her idol is. No wonder she was pissed!

As I looked at the angry face of my daughter, the wheels in my brain started churning looking for some sort of escape. I raised my watch to my face in a jerky movement and then gasped in surprise.

"Merlin! Look at the time. I must go to work," I lied. Lily glared at me, betrayed, with a 'don't-you-dare-leave-me-alone' expression. I kissed the top of her head and then waved a bye to Harry and Alyssa, who had redirected her anger solely towards Lily.

I grabbed a toast and my bag, rushing towards the floo to make a quick escape.

In a flurry of green flames I arrived in the Auror Department of the ministry, wiping soot off my coat. Taking a bite of my toast, I walked towards my compartment where I was greeted by a familiar voice.

"Hey Prongs!" Sirius said, leaning against the door of his compartment which was right next to mine.

" 'Sup Padfoot," I greeted, stopping near my compartment's door.

"You're early," he said grinning.

"Yeah," I replied, "Alyssa was having a fit because we didn't know some singer. Escaped home as soon as possible."

Sirius extended a hand in my direction and with a dramatic bow said, "All hail James Potter, the brave Gryffindor scared of a 13-year old."

"Shove off, mate," I replied annoyed, "You know how she gets when she's angry."

Sirius chuckled in response, with a teasing expression on his face. "Ok, ok! I'll leave," he said walking into his compartment with a two-fingered salute.

I walked into my compartment, closing the door behind me. Setting my bag down and taking a bite of my toast, I dropped like a dead-weight onto my chair and sighed. I sat there for a few minutes before deciding to complete the remaining paperwork I had. I pulled out a stack of paper from the drawer in my desk along with a quill and an inkpot, and got to work.

After a few minutes, someone knocked on my door.

Without looking up I tell them to come in.

"Sir, Moody has asked for you to come to his office at 10," the man says and I look up slowly to see an Auror trainee at my door.

Furrowing my eyebrows in confusion I asked, "Why? Does he need something?"

"He didn't say," the man replied.

I shook off my questions as I nodded and said, "I'll be there."

The man nodded respectfully back at me and then walked out of the door. Wondering what Mad-eye wanted from me now, I returned to my work.

It was 10. I walked out of my compartment only to encounter Sirius and Peter in the corridor.

Peter also works in the Auror department, but unlike Sirius and I who had slowly reached the post of Level 4 aurors (5 being the highest), Peter was still stuck as a Level 1 auror.

"What are you guys doing out here?" I ask.

"Moody called us," Sirius answered, Peter just nodding along.

"He called for me too," I said. We all start walking through the bustling corridors, heading towards Moody's office.

"Any idea what this is about?" I asked. Both Sirius and Peter answered in negative.

"I was hoping you knew," Sirius stated.

I was a bit surprised to see that Peter was also called along with us to the meeting. Sirius and I were often sent on missions and raids together due to our similar ranking and good coordination. Peter, on the other hand, was rarely involved in any work with us. Level 1 aurors were usually involved in petty thefts, assisting the Department of Improper Use of Magic and the Department of Misuse of Muggle Artefacts, and then also under supervision.

Arriving at Moody's office, Sirius knocked on the door signalling our arrival.

"Come in," a rough voice said.

We walked in one by one. Inside we were surprised to see that Moody wasn't alone. Two other women were there with them. They looked up when we entered and I took in their appearance.

One of them was standing in a corner, her hand clutching onto a file. She had straight black hair that fell down to her shoulders and blue eyes. She was wearing a white blouse and a brown pencil skirt, her hair also had a brown hairband in it. This was all accompanied by black pointed toe heel. She wasn't wearing any jewellery except for a watch on her wrist. She had an aura around her which showed that she meant business.

The other woman, on the other hand, was lazily sitting on a chair in front of the first woman. She was wearing a black glittery pantsuit with black high block heel. She was wearing silver earring and a silver bracelet for jewellery (I know so much about fashion because Lily always drags me with her when she goes shopping).

When my eyes fell on the woman's face, they widened in recognition.

This was the women from the newspaper. The singer who Alyssa had been so excited about.

What was her name? Something Strong. Myra Strong, no... Maddy Strong, no...

As I racked my brain to remember the name of the singer, Moody barked out an order for us to sit. We hurried towards our seats, knowing how easily Moody got annoyed.

"Are you all familiar with Miss Strong here?" he said gesturing towards the woman.

Upon hearing her name, the women's eyes, which had been roaming all over the office aimlessly, turned towards us. She sat with a regal grace making her seem like a queen of sorts. An aura of superiority surrounded her. Not as if she was arrogant, but as if her being superior was a fact that everyone had unanimously agreed upon and she had just accepted. Her piercing gaze made me feel so insecure and inferior about myself, I wanted to shrink into my seat and never emerge from there.

But I kept a bold face and nodded. I wasn't very surprised when Sirius nodded too. Sirius was an avid follower of music, muggle and wizardkind alike.

What surprised me was when Peter nodded. I turned towards my mousy friend to see him practically drooling over the woman in front of him.

"Ms Strong will be attending the Triwizard Tournament this year as a celebrity judge," Moody continued after hearing our response, "You three have been appointed with the responsibility of ensuring her protection at Hogwarts considering her bodyguards are all muggles."

I looked at the woman again. For someone who's security was being discussed, she looked extremely bored. Maybe she's used to this, being a celebrity and all.

"No one should know about Ms Strong's involvement in the tournament. Scratch that, no one should know about the tournament itself, and your involvement regarding it," Moody said, finishing with a warning tone.

The three of us nodded obediently.

Moody opened his mouth to threaten us further but was cut off by another authoritative voice.

"If I may," the singer cut in, signalling that she wanted to say something. To my surprise Moody conceded to her request, though he did look, well... moody, for a moment.

"Hello," she said, "I'm Mica Strong," MICA, that's what her name is, "It's a pleasure to meet you three." With a smile, she leaned forward to shake hands with all us.

I noticed that Peter shook her hands too enthusiastically, but she seemed unperturbed. On the contrary, her smile seemed to grow bigger at this.

When that was done, she sat up straight again and gestured to the woman behind her, "This is my assistant Martha. Martha's a squib so she can come to Hogwarts with me. But that means you three will have to ensure her protection too. Is that alright boys?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Peter breathed out immediately.

"Thank you," Mica said grinning. Then turning to Moody she said, "I believe that's all, isn't it Mr Moody."

"Yes," Moody said in his gruff voice, "Go back to work you three."

Without a word all three of us stood up walking out of the office, leaving Moody and the two women behind.

I can't wait to see how excited Alyssa would be when she found out.

Mica's POV

"Why did you want these three to be in charge of your security?" Moody said after the three boys had left.

"A friend of mine had recommended them," I said nonchalantly.

"Never put blind trust in a friend," came the paranoid auror's reply, "Might stab you in the back. You can only trust yourself. CONSTANT VIGILANCE."

Unperturbed by Moody's outburst I calmly spoke, "Oh I know. I work in the American music industry after all. But this friend of mine has always been with me, from the very beginning, we might as well be the same person."

Moody just grunted in response. "Come along now, I'll escort you out," he said.

I gave him an elegant smile. "Thank you so much," I said graciously.

Moody, Martha and I walked out of the room, attracting the unwanted attention of a lot of people, including reporters. Ignoring their questions and comments, I just flashed a smile towards the cameras before walking away swiftly towards my car. From here Moody departed ways with us, heading back to his office.

When we arrived at our hotel, Martha went to her own room while I went to mine. Walking into the room, I dropped onto the bed with a plop, sighing in relief. My arms were stretched out on either side of me. My eyes roamed over my room as I lay there, too tired to move. My wardrobe was slightly open, giving a sneak to the edge of a brown coat. Beside the wardrobe was a bulletin board which had numerous paper cuttings, photos and notes pinned on it. On both sides of the bed I lay on, was a table that contained a lamp each. Besides that there were some photo frames, my phone which I hadn't brought along in the magical world due to obvious reasons and a journal in which I wrote all my song ideas. On one corner of the room lay my guitar. Finally, there was a stool and a dressing table which held my makeup and some jewellery. Over the dressing table hung a gigantic mirror.

Pushing myself off the bed I headed towards the dressing table. Sitting down on the stool I looked at myself in the mirror.

My lips moved upwards, the pretty face turning into a maniacal grin. A small chuckle left my mouth. Then another. And another. Until it turned into full-blown laughter. I laughed so hard that I was sure that everyone in the hotel must have heard it but I didn't care.

No, I didn't give a damn.

When finally my laughter subsided, I wiped away the moisture in my eyes with the flick of my finger. I was still grinning, fully enjoying whatever was happening.

I closed my eyes and let the charms drop, just as I had done hundreds of times.

I felt my features morph with a bubbling sensation. The weight of my hair increased as it grew. The jumpsuit I had worn also shrunk with me just as I had charmed, as I turned from a 5'10'' to a 5'5''.

Finally, I felt the transformation wear off completely. I opened my eyes to see a pair of familiar brown eyes staring at me through the mirror.

"Oh how much I've missed you," I said, "Or, I guess, me. Right, Lisa?"


	5. Hogwarts

**I had planned on this chapter having a flashback but then the chapter turned out to be longer than I had anticipated. So, flashbacks from next chapter.**

**The song for this chapter is "Run Away" by TXT.**

* * *

It was 30th October.

It was time for me to go to Hogwarts.

I apparated right in front of the Hogwarts gate. Running a hand over my slightly windswept hair, I started walking towards the gate. The familiar figure of Argus Filch could be seen on the other side of the gate, Mrs. Norris right beside him. He limped towards the door in a hurry and fumbled to open the door.

I walked in through the gates, and felt the slightest buzz of magic, which most people wouldn't even have noticed. I sent a small smile to the caretaker who had muttered a welcome to me. My eyes were drawn to the large castle in front of me. I felt a wave of nostalgia overcome me as the memories, both good and bad, flooded through me.

I then heard three cracks behind me.

I turn around to see James, Sirius and Peter, who had just apparated outside the magical barrier. They walked towards the gate which was again opened by Filch who face had dawned a scowl. Sirius just gave him a cheeky grin in return.

"Ms. Strong," James greeted.

"Please, call me Mica," I said, the smile that appeared on my face seemed to physically hurt.

"Then call me James," he said and shook my hand.

I turned to Sirius and Peter and shook their hands as they asked me to call them by their first names, Peter even drooling a bit.

With that interaction out of the way, we walked towards the castle, small talk being carried on between all of us which I politely partook in. On the way I caught a sight of the Beauxbatons carriage and the Durmstrang ship, signalling that the two schools had arrived.

Instead of walking in through the front doors, we walked into another room. Upon entering the room, I was greeted by the sight of Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch.

Seeing me, a jolly smile came upon Bagman's face. He rushed forwards and excitedly shook my hand.

"Ms. Strong, what a pleasure! What a pleasure," he said. He was wearing a bright purple robe with an yellow and black Wimbourne Wasp scarf around his neck. On his head rested a purple wizard's hat. It was an unfortunate combination.

I stopped a grimace from coming over my face due to the rapid shaking of my hand and smiled while saying, "The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Bagman. I was a big fan of the Wimbourne Wasps back in the day."

As I had expected. Bagman's chest puffed out at my compliment and his grin grew wider than before, which I hadn't thought was chuckled slightly and started rapidly, telling me all about his adventures and quidditch tales. I pretended to be invested in the conversation. A house elf appeared at one point of time and took the the long brown trench coat I had been wearing from me, revealing an asymmetrical green dress I was wearing underneath. This was paired by an above the knee length black boot and large hoop earrings.

Getting bored of the conversation, I cut off the tale that Bagman had been telling me, of how he had been the reason that the seeker of his team had been able to catch the snitch at the finals of the 1990 ("Rowley would have been knocked off the broom if it weren't of me. Saved him from a bludger that the Swedish had sent...").

"Mr. Crouch," the man who had been looking around the room, uninterested by the conversation around him, turned his gaze towards me, "When will we be entering the Great Hall?"

The man who was wearing a black formal robe over a white shirt and black tie told me, "We're waiting for the students of the other two schools to settle into the hall. Once that is done someone will inform us and we'll enter the hall."

I nodded in response.

Bagman unperturbed by the interruption, continued his story right from where he had left it. I exchanged an amused look with Sirius who had been rolling his eyes, to keep up my act.

Thankfully, at that moment, Filch entered the room to tell us that we could now proceed into the hall.

Crouch walked in first, his head high and his posture stiff.

He was followed by the contrasting Bagman, who walked in with a skip in his step.

I entered next, Sirius, James and Peter following me. The familiar sight of the Great Hall greeted me.

As the light fell onto my face, a scream came from the Hufflepuff table, "OH MY GOD! IT'S MICA STRONG."

Few screams and squeals echoed across the room, many jaws dropped and all faces snapped towards me. Some people stood up from their seats in shock, and one girl ran towards me but was caught midway by James and carried back towards her seat. I slowed my pace down slowly and turned towards the room flashing them a bright smile like I had done several times in Mica's body.

I walked towards the teacher's table and the professors stood to shake my hand. When I shook hands with Dumbledore I had an urge to squeeze his hand till his circulation was cut off, but repressing that urge I instead smiled and exchanged pleasantries.

Once that was done, I sat down in an empty seat on the table. Peter sat on one side while James and Sirius sat together on the other side of me. Near Peter sat Remus who was the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

I made small talk with everyone on the table as I looked at the Great Hall with a hint of reminiscence making sure that to anyone else who was looking it would seem like Mica Strong, the woman who had never attended Hogwarts, was just taking in the unfamiliar surroundings.

After everyone had finished their food, Dumbledore stood up from his seat to address the school. A pleasant sort of tension seemed to fill the Hall now. Several students leaned forward, obviously excited to hear what would happen.

"The moment has come," said Dumbledore, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket," I saw some students exchange looks of confusion at this. He then proceeded to introduce Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman to the audience. He then introduced me, "We also have a celebrity judge joining us this year for the Tournament, Ms. Mica Strong." He gestured towards me with his hand.

The room broke out into a round of applause, which was even louder than the applause Bagman had received. I just smiled and waved gracefully in response. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Black and Mr. Pettigrew will also be joining us in order to ensure the security of our esteemed judge."

Dumbledore then added that he, Karkaroff and Maxime would be joining the panel who will judge the champions' performance.

The room stilled at this, the students' attentiveness sharpening. Sensing this, Dumbledore asked Filch to bring the casket.

A great wooden chest encrusted with jewels was brought near Dumbledore. It looked extremely old. A ripple of excitement seemed to travel through the room.

Dumbledore then proceeded to explain the rules of the Triwizard tournament as everyone listened with baited breaths. When he announced that there would be an age limit in the tournament, I saw disappointment flash on the faces of many students.

I almost shook my head at the eagerness that the students had over putting themselves in danger, remembering my years in Hogwarts when the war was at its peak and everyone lived in fear, trying to prevent themselves and their families from facing the danger.

He tapped the chest three times with his wand and the lid creaked open slowly. Dumbledore reached inside it, and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It was filled to the brim with dancing blue-white flames.

I leaned forward to catch a good sight of the goblet, which I had heard about but not really seen till now.

Dumbledore gave a few last instructions and then Dumbledore dismissed everyone in the room. He then turned back towards the table as Karkaroff and Maxime walked out of the hall with their students.

Dumbledore walked towards me and said, "Miss Strong, a room has been arranged for you to stay in. You'll find that all your belonging have also arrived."

"How kind of you," I said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor."

He looked over his half-moon spectacles at me, his piercing blue eyes having the same effect they had on me when I was young, as if I was undergoing an x-ray.

"I assure you that the pleasure is all mine," he said, "I believe you must be tired at the moment. Professor Lupin can guide you to your room. His room is in the same wing. You'll find three more rooms nearby for Mr. Black, Mr. Potter and Mr. Pettrigrew, and of course one for your assistant, Ms. Jenkins."

I nodded. "This way," Remus said taking the lead after with a kind smile. The three other marauders walked along with him, conversing with their best friend.

Giving a courteous farewell to Dumbledore, and Bagman and Crouch who were just leaving, I walked after the four boys.

We reached a corridor which I remember used to contain some empty classrooms.

Remus gestured towards one of the room and said, "This will be your room. A floo has been constructed in case you ever need to leave."

I smiled and thanked him, then walked into my room.

Martha was waiting inside with a clip board in her hand. "All of your belonging have been brought in, ma'am. The wall on the left of the room reveals a floo network on saying a password. You can choose the password by pointing your wand at the wall and saying Tesserae followed by the password. Similar charm can be placed upon your door."

I smiled at her and then asked her to rest. We had a long day coming up.

She curtly nodded and then walked out. I swear, that women never smiles. Pity, she would look nice smiling.

When she had left I took out my wand, which had been tucked into my boot and pointed towards the door setting the password. I then turned towards the wall and set the password, "Tesserae Tapetum."

Once that was done, I took off my enchantments and fell onto the bed. I took in the room, which looked similar to my room at the hotel except that the walls were off-white instead of white, and the floor were made of grey stone instead of the brown tiles.

My mind wandered to the plan. I had everyone in the same place, under the same roof. Well, all except one.

The first step of the plan was complete.

With a smile on my face, I fell asleep, not even bothering to change as exhaustion overcame me.


	6. A New Friend

**The flashbacks are back. On the downside though, this chapter is a bit of a filler. But it is kind of important for character growth. Anyways, enjoy...**

**The song for this chapter is 'Innocent' by Taylor Swift.**

* * *

_"Come on Lisa," Lily said, causing said girl to groan._

_"Do we have to go to the library?" Lisa asked, "Again."_

_Don't get her wrong. She loved reading and the library had been one of her original favourite spots at Hogwarts. But that's the ONLY place Lily and Snape would go to hangout in. It got boring after a while._

_She wanted to go out and bask in the sun. Run around, give her stiff muscles a bit of an exercise._

_Unfortunately, neither of her friends were exactly, sporty._

_But she still loved her new friends. And she was loving her new school. All those years she has spent in her mansion's library trying to soak up the intriguing information stored in the books seemed to have helped her in performing magic. She was doing well enough in all her classes, except History of Magic._

_She blamed Binns for that._

_Sure, there was a downside to Hogwarts too, the Marauders had decided to make her their pranking target. Her house also seemed to hate her. But she could handle it, right?_

_"Why do you even want to go the library?" Lisa asked, "Haven't you already checked out enough books."_

_"How can you ever check out enough books?" Lily said incredulously, "There is still so much to learn about this world."_

_"Yes, and surely you'll be able to learn everything before the end of the week, when you'll have to return the books," Snape said sarcastically._

_Lisa giggled at this while Lily just looked offended. Severus rarely contributed to the conversation when Lisa was with them except to add some sort of snarky comment that left Lisa in fits of laughter._

_"Don't underestimate me," Lily huffed out._

_"Yeah Severus," Lisa said, "Don't underestimate Lily and her undying love for books."_

_Lily rolled her eyes, "Look at my friends, ganging up on me."_

_Once they entered the library, Lily and Snape immediately took off towards different aisles to look for books they were interested in. Not knowing what else to do, Lisa walked over to an aisle, randomly browsing through the books._

_She turned a corner among the bookshelves and stopped abruptly upon seeing a familiar figure. Remus was there leaning against the nearby wall, a book about dark creatures in his hand._

_Lisa quietly turns around not wanting to attract the boy's attention. She wasn't really in the mood to suffer through more taunting and ridicule. Who ever was?_

_Just as she had turned around to leave, she heard a soft voice, "Lisa?"_

_She paused in her step, a groan almost escaping her mouth. She wondered if she could just ignore him and walk away. But then she heard footsteps approaching her and she had no choice but to turn around._

_"Hey," she said trying to smile, but her mouth involuntarily curved into a grimace._

_Remus must have noticed because he suddenly seemed to find the nearest bookshelf really interesting._

_"Hey," he replied, shuffling his feet, "How has Hogwarts been treating you?"_

_Lisa couldn't help but look at Remus incredulously. The last month he had stood aside as Sirius charmed her food to fly into her face, her homework had exploded while she was doing it curtsy of James making it look like she had just gone through a rough game of exploding snaps and her robes had been turned to the colour of Lily's vibrant red hair, and now he turns up suddenly and has the audacity of asking her 'How has Hogwarts been treating you?'_

_"Oh, just great," she said sarcastically, "I especially love walking to the hospital wing with half my eyebrows singed off."_

_He cleared his throat uncomfortably, still not meeting her eyes. "About that..." he started but then paused as if hoping that somebody would jump in and complete his sentence. Lisa waited for a few moments for him to complete, her arms crossed in front of her and an eyebrow raised._

_When it became clear that Remus was not going to say anything else, due to nervousness or pride Lisa couldn't tell, she scoffed and turned around beginning to walk off._

_"Wait," Remus said. Lisa turned around again, annoyed, "What is it Remus? I don't have all day."_

_"I just..." he started nervously, "I just wanted to say that I'm... Sorry."_

_Lisa was caught off-guard. She had expected Remus to be like Sirius and James who held grudges for a long time and even when they got over their grudges, their pride is so strong that it takes a lot for them to apologise._

_She scanned Remus' face for any signs of insincerity. It didn't seem like he held any mal-intent._

_"I'm sorry for how James, Sirius," he continued with his head hung, "And I have been treating you."_

_She couldn't help but feel a bit of hope bubble in her chest. One of the marauders was here apologising, if Remus could understand his mistake then why couldn't James. It might take time, but they were family. Blood runs thicker than water, that's how the saying goes right?_

_"I'll forgive you but on one condition," she said._

_Finally, he looks at her, with a questioning expression on his face._

_She extended her hand out with a grin on her face, "Friends?"_

_Remus looked confused at first, not processing what she had said. Then with a small smile growing on his face, he grabbed her hand and shook it._

_"Friends," he confirmed._

x*x*x*x*x

_She rushed towards her potion's classroom cursing the winding corridors of the dungeons._

_"... then we could charms it to turn into a rainbow..." she heard her brother's voice._

_She paused in her steps._

_"Who should we try this prank on?" came little Peter's squeaky voice._

_This piqued her attention even more. She leaned in closer to see if her name came up._

_"Why of course it's for the little traitor Potter," came Sirius' cocky voice._

_She winced. 'Little traitor Potter' sounded a bit extreme over just being sorted into a house they disapproved of. She wasn't a big fan of Slytherins either, even though she was one herself, but she had just been sorted into the house. It's not like she had used an unforgivable curse on someone._

_"Maybe," came Remus' unsure voice, "we should leave Lisa alone for a while. We've been pranking her for a month, let's give it a break. There's a lot of people that we've yet to prank." His comment was followed by a round of silence. Lisa bit her lip in anticipation._

_"Bu...," Sirius started._

_"Maybe he's right Sirius," came James' voice. He sounded uncertain but continued speaking, "We can't focus on one person for too long. Besides, we haven't pranked Snivellus in a long time."_

_Sirius grumbled something that Lisa couldn't hear but it was followed with no complains so she assumed that he had agreed._

_She waited for a second, but the boys went back to discussing their prank, which sounded unnecessarily elaborate to her to be honest. Realising that she would be late to class she quietly rushed away with a slight skip in her step which must have looked odd to any bystander._

_Remus had asked them not to prank her. They had barely had one conversation and he was already, indirectly, standing up for her. It felt nice after being continuously mocked by almost everyone for one month._

_And James agreeing to this was like the cherry on top._

_She felt giddy all of a sudden._

_She finally reached the potions room and mentally reminded herself to warn Severus about the prank._

I walked into the Entrance Hall where the Goblet of Fire was situated, Sirius, James and Peter following me. Students crowded around it, watching it in awe, as if they had not been missing periods and gaping at it the entire day. I felt many eyes turn towards me but, not to sound vain, not as many as I had been expecting.

The students were distracted by two red haired, identical boys and a boy with black skin and dark brown afro hair, who seemed to have entered just before me.

"Done it," said one of them in a triumphant whisper to a few kids near him, "Just taken it."

"What?" said another tall, lanky red-haired boy.

"Who are those boys?" I asked leaning back towards the three marauders behind me.

"Fred and George Weasley," James said, "And Lee Jordan." Oh, that's why the twins reminded me of the Prewett twins.

"And near them are Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and my son, Harry," James said. I wanted to say that I didn't ask but kept my mouth shut, taking in the sight of the young boy.

He looked just like his father. Except the eyes, they were Lily's eyes.

"The ageing potion, dungbrain," said Fred.

"One drop each," said George, rubbing his hands together with glee. "We only need to be a few months older."

"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins," said Lee, grinning broadly.

"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know," said Hermione warningly, "I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this."

I couldn't help but agree with the young girl, but apparently the three mischievous boys didn't as they ignored her.

"Ready?" Fred said to the other two, quivering with excitement, "C'mon then - I'll go first..."

Everybody watched fascinated, as Fred pulled a slip of parchment out of his pocket, bearing the words 'Fred Weasley - Hogwarts'. I watched with a knowing smirk as Fred walked right up to the edge of the line, and stood there, rocking on his toes like a diver preparing for a fifty-foot drop. Then, with the eyes of every person on the Entrance Hall upon him, he took a great breath and stepped over the line.

For a split second, nothing happened - George let out a yell of triumph and leapt after Fred - but next moment, there was a loud sizzling sound, and both the twins were hurled out of the golden circle around the goblet as though they had been shot by an invisible shot-putter. They landed painfully, ten feet away on the cold stone floor, and to add insult to the injury, there was a loud popping noise, and both of them sprouted identical, long white beards.

The entrance hall rung with laughter and even Fred and George joined in once they had gotten a look at each other's beards.

I laughed along, admiring the boys and their ability to make fun of themselves. The marauders behind me were letting out loud, hearty guffaws.

My mood died down when Dumbledore walked into the room, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, as he asked them to go to the hospital wing. Lee Jordan walking along with tears in his eyes.

I was about to walk away when a little girl approached me. She looked nervously at me with wide eyes, then she looked behind me at the three boys with a pleading glance.

"Um, Mica," James said, "This is my daughter, Alyssa. She's a big fan of yours."

The girl was basically the opposite of Harry in looks, with her mother's looks and her father's eyes.

I smiled and walked towards her, "It's nice to meet you, Alyssa."

The girl's eyes seem to grow wider than before, "Believe me, the pleasure is all mine."

She was jumping excitedly and had a grin on her face, she reached into her bag and pulled out a quill and a poster of mine. Holding it out she said, "Could I have an autograph?"

I looked at the girl fondly, she was so sweet and innocent. "Of course," I said and took the quill from her, signing the poster with a flourish of my hands.

The girl did an adorably cute jump and then rapidly started thanking me.

I chuckled at this and looked at the girl's excited face.

Then I said something which another similar looking red-haired girl had once said to me, "How would feel about being friends with me?"

Alyssa grinned at that and rapidly shook her head in agreement. After we exchanged cordial farewells, she skipped off to a group of girls near the Great Hall gates who started whispering excitedly to her.

"You have a beautiful daughter James," I said. And for the first time since I had arrived in the magical world, I wasn't lying to him.


	7. Fun and Games

**I know, I know. You guys are waiting for the actual revenge and the backstory behind why Lisa wants revenge but you guys will have to be slightly patient. Everything that I'm writing is either important for the story or very important for character growth. That is why I want to update as often as I can. So that we can finally start the planning, plotting part of the revenge. This chapter is all in the past and a light-hearted one. Hope you enjoy!**

**The song for this chapter is 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' by Cyndi Lauper.**

* * *

_Where was it? Where was it? Where was it?_

_It was a nice sunny Sunday afternoon. Most students were out in the sun, sitting with their friends and procrastinating over their homework. Lisa on the other hand, sat in the Hogwarts library, skimming through a rather large brown tome called 'Charms to Remember'. Not a very creative name in her opinion._

_Why she was doing this? Well she was searching a spell that she had once read somewhere, for a prank she was planning. This would be her first prank at Hogwarts and needless to say she was really excited._

_This excitement was overshadowed at the moment though, because she couldn't find the spell she needed ANYWHERE._

_She riffled through the pages frustrated. She was about ready to ram her head against the stone walls of the school when someone plopped down on the seat beside her._

_"Whatcha doing Lisa?" asked the person. She lifted her head to see Remus sitting beside her._

_"Um..." she said nervously. She didn't want to tell anyone about the prank she was planning yet. She scrambled her brain for something to say, "N-nothing. I was just- um, reading some books- about charms." She lifted the book she had been reading, as proof, with an overly sweet smile._

_Remus raised an eyebrow and ran his eye over the stack of books that was placed on the table in front of her._

_"That's a lot of reading," said Remus sceptically._

_"You know me Remus. I love reading," Lisa mentally facepalmed. Why was she so bad at lying?_

_"Lisa," Remus said, giving her a knowing look, she really hated that look at the moment, "You've spent the last two weeks complaining to me about how much time Evans and Snape spend in the library. READING."_

_"Hehe," Lisa said and raised her hand not holding the book for a shoulder shrug, "I had a- um- change of mind, I guess."_

_"Sure..." Remus said, dragging the word out, "Listen, if you don't want to tell me something, it's ok. I won't pressurise you."_

_She ducked her head in embarrassment and gave a nervous laugh, "Th- thanks Remus."_

_Remus gave her a pleasant smile in return._

_She then returned her attention back to the book in front of her. Remus pulled out a quill and a piece of parchment to write his transfiguration essay._ _They sat in comfortable silence for a while, each engrossed in their own work._

_But it didn't take long for Lisa to go back to her frustrated self._

_"Stupid book!" she exclaimed annoyed and threw the book towards the table._

_The book then suddenly decided that this was the perfect day to act like a crazy ball. Hitting the stack of books on the table. it rebounded to hit the pot of ink Remus had been using to write, spilling the content all over his essay. The stack of books which had been hit wobbled like a licorice wand, and she watched with eyes wide in horror as the book leaned forward and then tumbled all over Remus and herself._

_"Aah!" Remus exclaimed._

_Madame Pince came stomping towards the aisle they were sitting in, resting her hand on her hips about to reprimand the two kids before stopping in her steps upon seeing the sight._

_Remus and Lisa were still sitting in their seats but were now covered in books of all colours and sizes. Books also littered the table and the floor around them. The mahogany table in front of them had blue ink seeping into it, similar to the state of Remus' arm and white sleeves._

_Madame Pince looked around in shock at the chaos._

_"Wh-what -50 points from Gryffindor and Slytherin each- Get out... Get out right now," she screamed at them._

_Lisa and Remus exchanged a look of panic._

_The situation, apparently, had still not knocked some sense into Lisa's brain. She held up the book she had been reading, which had remained miraculously unharmed, and said with a hopeful smile, "Can I at least take the book?"_

_Madame Pince's face scrunched up even tighter in anger, her glasses slipping down her nose, "DETENTION POTTER!"_

_She then furiously jabbed a finger towards the door, signalling for them to leave._

_Both the kids scrambled to get their things- Lisa reluctantly leaving the books behind- and ran out the door._ _They ran through the twisting and turning halls, till they reached the Grand Staircase._

_Lisa leaned against the wall, while Remus shifted the weight of his body onto the staircase's railing. Both were huffing and panting from the run, sweat beading their faces._

_Once their ragged breathing had calmed down, Lisa's eyes caught Remus' jade green eyes._

_And she just burst out laughing._

_She doubled over, her hand clutching her stomach as tears collected at the corner of her eyes. Remus gave her a weirded out look, though a grin soon appeared on his face due to her laughter._

_"Oh my god! Did you see her face?" Lisa said, "It was as red as a tomato."_

_Remus' laughter grew at this. "Yeah," he said, "And did you see her vein popping?"_

_"I did. I shouldn't be laughing at this. Why am I laughing?"_

_"And what was that, 'Can I at least take the book?'" Remus said laughing incredulously._

_"I panicked, ok! I really wanted the book. And I just- Merlin- I just blurted out whatever I though!"_

_"You tend to do that a lot," he taunted playfully._

_"Hey!" she said in mock offence, "I do not."_

_"Sure... Tell yourself that."_

_"You're mean," she pouted, stifling her laughter for a few moments to keep a straight face._

_"I prefer to think I'm honest, thank you very much," Remus said straightening his tie in a posh manner, with a similar straight face._

_They looked at each other, and their moment of "seriousness" dissolved again as they started laughing._

_"You Potters are mad," Remus chuckled._

_"Aye- my personality has nothing to do my family," Lisa said sticking up her nose, but her face still contained a grin, "I'm a unique, mad genius."_

_"I can agree on mad, but genius..." Remus trailed off smirking._

_"You didn't disagree on me being unique," Lisa pointed out grinning._

_"I didn't agree either," he huffed out._

_"But..." she said dragging the word out, "You didn't disagree."_

_"Bu- You know what there is no point to this discussion," Remus said._

_"Excuses, excuses," she waved off, "You know my articulate and extremely smart-self would whoop your ass if we continued fighting."_

_"Yeah," Remus smirked sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He extended an arm towards her and said, "The supreme-overlord of intelligence who just got herself stuck in detention."_

_"Oi I-" she started but paused her argument as her eyes widened, "Merlin's bollocks- I've got detention! Lily is going to bloody murder me."_

_Remus, like any true friend, just laughed at her misery._

x*x*x*x*x

_"You got what?!" Lily basically screamed._

_Lisa winced. As she had expected, Lily hadn't taken the news of her detention really well._

_"Wait, wait- I have an explanation," Lisa cut in before Lily could start off on her rant._

_"It better be a good one," Lily huffed out in exasperation._

_Severus watched from the side with a smirk on his face. He looked as if his favourite TV show had come on. And yes, I know what Tallyvesion is._

_"Ok, so I was sitting in the library and Remus was sitting with me. Then I got frustrated by the book and threw it towards the table- "_

_"You did what?!" Lily interrupted her._

_"Shush Lily, I'm telling a story. Then the book, apparently had a weird amount of elasticity, because it bounced off the stack of books I had and fell on Remus' ink pot. So basically, I indirectly caused his homework to be covered in ink- "_

_"You caused what?!" Lily interrupted again._

_"I just told you not to interrupt. Anyways, so then the books fell down. Madame Pince then came and shouted at us for the chaos we made. It was honestly really funny, Remus and I even laughed about it later. Oh- and she gave me detention because I asked for the book at a very inopportune moment-"_

_"You asked for what?!" Lily exclaimed._

_"You know you're basically saying the same thing again and again, just replacing one word," Lisa rolled her eyes._

_"Wh- what the- Are you kidding me Lisa?" she scolded, "This is all just so unbelievable!"_

_"The only part I find unbelievable about this is that Lisa had a stack of books with her. And she was Reading the books," Severus said smirking._

_Lisa rolled her eyes. "Was that comment really necessary Sev?"_

_He looked her directly in the eyes and said with a deadpan look, "Absolutely."_

_Lisa tried to stifle the giggle that rose in her throat._

_"Hey- hey guys!" Lily said, snapping her fingers in front of their faces, "I think we are missing something important here. Lisa got detention- her first detention. Severus and I have yet to get any detentions, and we are in second year Lisa. How did you get a detention so quickly? The year has barely started."_

_"It's been more than a month, Lily," Lisa said, "Plus, this just shows that I'm way cooler than you guys!"_

_"If cool means stupid," Lily growled._

_"If cool means cool," Lisa said with a cheeky grin._

_When Lily continued to glare pointedly at her, Lisa sighed in defeat, "Fine, fine! I'm sorry Lily. From now on I'll make sure that I don't make books fall on myself."_

_Lily huffed, "It's not a proper apology, but I'll take what I can get."_ _Lisa beamed at her._

_"Yes," Severus drawled out, "And we can't really blame little Lisa here for her utter lack of coordination."_

_Lisa glared at Severus, "I don't lack coordination. I just have- um- really bad luck."_

_"Of course," Severus said smirking._

_Lisa looked at him annoyed, though she was smiling slightly._

_"Don't you have to go to Professor Slughorn Lisa. To get details of the detention," Lily said, rolling her eyes at her friends' antics._

_"Yeah I do," Lisa said standing up, and did a dramatic bow, "Farewell Queen Mother Goose and Lord Snarky Douche."_

_She then turned on her heels and walked away to the sound of Lily's indignant sputtering and Snape's amused snort._


	8. This is Halloween

**I'm back!**

**(See what I did there- ok Imma just leave)**

**All flashback. Hope you like this chapter. This chapter is pretty mediocre but I'm kinda new to this kind of writing, so it'll take time for me to get used to it.**

* * *

_Lisa sneakily slipped out of her dorm, careful not to wake any of her dorm mates. It was way past curfew and she would be in serious trouble if anybody found out what she was doing._

_She tip-toed down the stairs as quickly as she could and then ran out the common room. "Lumos," she whispered as she came outside the swinging doors, into the dungeon._

_"Turn off that light missy," a grumpy old wizard in a portrait said._

_"Yeah- some of us are trying to sleep over here," another portrait containing a wizard with eccentric hair and a monocle said. He was accompanied by a woman in a violet gown and a strict bun that would make McGonagall jealous._

_"Shut it," Lisa whispered annoyed._

_The woman in the portrait started mumbling under her breath- something about 'rude young teenager' and 'no regard for rules'._

_Lisa ignored this and walked ahead, dimming the light of the wand. It was during moments like this that she regretted not taking the invisibility cloak from James, before she had arrived at Hogwarts. Because there was no way she was getting her hands on it now._

_Then again, it wasn't like she knew she and her brother would be in such a tense situation._

_She reached the Great Halls, thankful for not encountering any professors- or worse Filch- on the way._

_The professors had planned on decorating the hall after the students had taken their dinner, for the holiday, which was the next day. She had overheard Hagrid and Sprout discussing about this when she had been walking back from her flying lessons and thought this was the perfect opportunity for her first prank._

_She looked across the isolated hall. The professors had really outdone themselves with the decoration._

_Flickering jack-o-lanterns hung overhead the hall and bats flew near them, occasionally swooping in near the tables. All around the great halls, skeletons and cobwebs had been stationed to provide to the festive atmosphere. The skeletons were wearing wigs and tattered clothes._

_As you might have guessed, tomorrow was Halloween._

_She pulled out the small journal she had tucked into her pocket, and flipped through the pages. She landed on the page which contained the basic outline of the prank and the list of spells she needed._

_She first moved towards the jack-o-lanterns and looked down at her journal. She then pointed her wand at the pumpkins and whispered a word, "Disposito."_

_The pumpkins vibrated slightly for a second but then stilled, as if nothing had ever happened._

_She then moved towards one of the skeletons. "Compositio," she murmured. She swished her wand and then said, "Requiem."_

_She moved towards the second skeleton and did the same. She walked to all the skeletons and repeated her actions. It was a long and tedious process, but she powered herself through it._

_She then started re-positioning the skeletons with the hovering charm. Nothing too drastic to be noticeable, just enough so that it could work for her arrangement._

_Her eyes latched on one skeleton in particular. The skeleton had a long dark brown hair, braided into dreadlocks and was wearing a ripped black leather jacket and teal blue skirt. Lisa stared at it for a few seconds, cocking her head to the side._

_She smiled then and walked towards the skeleton._

_"Perfect," she breathed out, looking the figure up and down._

_She flicked her wand in front of it and said, "Colovaria."_

_A ripple passed through the skeleton's hair, turning it from its dark brown colour to aqua, with strands of black and white in them._

_The skeleton seemed to liven up at this, but Lisa still felt like there was something missing._

_She looked around for some sort of inspiration to hit her. Her eyes landed on a skeleton with purple wavy hair wearing a muddy dress of lavender. A brown pirate hat with a gold rim rested on the skeleton's head._

_Lisa walked towards the skeleton and plucked the pirate hat off its head. Muttering the colour-changing charm again she converted the lavender stars and shells, to blue and white. She then placed it on the blue-haired skeleton instead._

_Satisfied with her work she looked at the journal and reviewed the final spell she had to use. She paused at this and wondered if she should use it. Using this spell would mean that she would decide to do this prank, anonymously._

_On one hand, she wouldn't get the praise she deserved if the pranks went well. She wouldn't openly be able to prank and would have to sneak around all the time._

_On the other hand, if somebody didn't like the prank, she wouldn't have to suffer the backlash. She could also skip many detentions and punishments, remaining in the professors' good graces. And people could enjoy the pranks without caring about who she was, what house she had, how much blood purity she had..._

_Steeling her mind, she raised her wand towards the ceiling and said the spell, "Colos Verbo."_

_Nothing happened._

_She huffed out in frustration. All the time she had spent perfecting these spells and this one just had to go wrong at the last second._

_She pointed upwards and tried the spell again._

_And again. And again. And again..._

x*x*x*x*x

_The chattering of students filled the Great Hall. The tables were at the moment filled with sweets of various kinds as the students were just finishing with their dinner._

_Lisa sat on the dinner table, eating a slice of chocolate cheesecake, surrounded by a green-clad students._

_As everyone finished up, the food disappeared from the five tables. Dumbledore rose up from his seat to address the hall. Lisa pulled out her wand._

_"Now that everyone has been satisfied by the scrumptious meal prepared for us," he said with a twinkle in his eyes, "I wish you all a Happy Halloween. I have a few words to say- mugglewump, rammingo, flaherty- that is all. Now, you may return -"_

_"Ventus," Lisa whispered under her breath not bothering to listen to the headmaster finish. For the first time, she was glad that she didn't have any friends in Slytherin who could overhear her._

_A wind blew out from her wand, interrupting Dumbledore's words and extinguishing every candle in the room. It happened so suddenly that nobody understood where the wind came from. The dim light from the pumpkins overhead now seemed eerie in the big hall. Whispers broke out amongst the occupants of the room, even the professors looked confused._

_She then murmured, "Cantatio."_

_The sound of static filled the room, humming softly. She heard a voice saying, "What is this?" from the Ravenclaw table. "Petere. Evanesco," she murmured in rapid succession. Her hair covering her face that was scrunched in concentration. The bats that had been flying disappeared unanimously. The jack-o-lanterns that had been floating peacefully in their places, started moving above the great hall. They crossed each other, occasionally swinging up and down, scaring the people sitting near it._

_"Nebulus. Colovaria," she said after that._

_The pumpkins started emitting smoke in various colours. They continued moving over the Great Hall, leaving a trail of smoke behind them in colours like purple, green and blue. She then activated the charm she had placed upon the skeletons the previous night, "Excitant."_

_The skeletons jerked up, as if they were waking up from a deep sleep. They started walking across the room like drunk teenagers. A few people shrieked at the skeleton's sudden movement. She hid her hand that was controlling the skeleton's movements under the table._

**(A/N I would suggest you start the song This is Halloween(Cover) by Claudia at this point of time for a better read)**

_People jumped. The sound of a female voice entered the room. It was followed by creepy whispering, laughing and shouting._

_The skeleton with the blue hair, that she had charmed the other night, stood in the middle of the hall. The stiff bones of the figure seem to twist into a wicked smirk that was grotesque and yet alluring at the same time._

_Music that she had spent days making and charming, so no could recognise her voice, started playing suddenly. The skeleton with the blue hair started walking though the centre of the room on beat, the other skeletons parting way, as if she were the queen, and they her undead citizens. She bent forward with grace and started singing,_

_Boys and girls of every age_  
_Wouldn't you like to see something strange?_

_Come with us and you will see_  
_This, our town of Halloween_

_(__The other skeletons moved to the centre of the hall eliciting screams. They started dancing,)_

_This is Halloween, this is Halloween_  
_Pumpkins scream in the dead of night_

_This is Halloween, everybody make a scene_  
_Trick or treat till the neighbours gonna die of fright  
It's our town, everybody scream  
In this town of Halloween_

_(__A skeleton with long flowing black hair popped up from under the Hufflepuff table and sang,)_

_I am the one hiding under your bed_  
_Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red_

_(__Another skeleton with short brown curly hair stepped onto the Gryffindor table and bent down towards a group of first years and sang,)_

_I am the one hiding under your stairs_  
_Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair_

_(The blue haired skeleton sung again her body moving with the beat,)_

_This is Halloween, this is Halloween_

_(__The other skeletons moved all across the room, stomping to the beat)_

_Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!_

_(They stopped stomping)_

_In this town we call home_  
_Everyone hail to the pumpkin song_

_(__The skeletons started jumping again)_

_In this town, don't we love it now?_  
_Everybody's waiting for the next surprise_

_(__A skeleton with short black choppy hair jumped near the blue-haired skeleton and screamed,)_

_Everybody scream, everybody scream_

_In our town of Halloween!_

_(__A skeleton with long red hair sat at the Ravenclaw table between two prefects and sang,)_

_I- I-I-I am the clown with the tear-away face_  
_Here in a flash and gone without a trace_

_(A skeleton with short, straight blonde hair climbed on the Slytherin table and lay down, singing,)_

_I-I-I-I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?"_  
_I am the wind blowing through your hair_

_(A skeleton with short black containing purple streaks, jumped towards the teachers table, landing in front of Flitwick and sang,)_

_I-I-I-I am the shadow on the moon at night_  
_Filling your dreams to the brim with fright_

_(__The blue-haired skeleton strutted forward in between the table, singing,)_

_Tender lumplings everywhere_  
_Life's no fun without a good scare_

_That's our job, but we're not mean_  
_In our town of Halloween_

_In this town_

_Don't we love it now?_  
_Everybody's waiting for the next surprise__ (The blue-haired skeleton raised her hands towards the ceiling,)_

_(All the skeletons stilled, the blue-haired skeleton swung one hip to the side,)_

_In this town we call home_  
_Everyone hail to the pumpkin song_

_La la la la-la,_

_(__The skeletons jumped back towards the centre of the room, the pumpkins gathered over them, swirling, creating a small tornado of multicoloured-smoke. The skeletons started jumping and dancing chaotically under the tornado, jumping on tables and seats,)_

_La la la la-la,_  
_La la la la-la,_  
_La la la la,_

_La la la la-la,_  
_La la la la-la,_  
_La la la la-la,_  
_La la la la,_

_(__All the skeletons stood with their arms held out wide, except the blue-haired skeleton who let out a short laugh)_

_As the music died down, a loud explosion rocked the room. The skeletons all burst like smoke bombs, spewing confetti, glitter and coloured smoke. The confetti and glitter rained down upon the students, reaching every corner of the room. The smoke however curled around, till it formed words._

_"There's a new prankster in town"_

_As everyone watched in awe, the smoke swirled in a circle. Again, it formed words- well, a word to be exact._

_"Incendies"_

_Wildfire_

* * *

**Ok, so I just realised that I never told you what the spells, made by me, can do. So here goes,**

**Disposito - Puts inanimate object's movement in the spell casters chosen directions (used with spell Petere which starts the movement)**

**Compositio - Helps in controlling inanimate objects (kind of like imperio, but for inanimate objects)**

**Requiem - Pausing a spell, opposite of Excitant**

**Colos Verbo - Produces coloured words**

**Cantatio - Music/sounds/voices are produced**

**Petere - Starts moving an inanimate object (used with spell Disposito which controls the movement)**

**Excitant - Unpausing a spell, opposite of Requiem**

**Also, there was a spell in chapter 3, Reconciliation**

**Memoria - Restoring memory, opposite of Obliviate**

**The other spells are cannon. Check them out on the HP wiki page if anyone needs to remember what they do.**


	9. Severus Snape

**Sorry for the delay, I had exams. They just ended, so I can probably update much more frequently.**

**So, some people have been asking me about Voldy and grown up Snape. I haven't forgotten the beloved nose-less villain yet. As for Snape, continue reading this chapter. The most recent person to ask this was a guest member Anon. So Anon, here's your answer.**

**No flashbacks in this chapter.**

**Song for this chapter is 'Sweet But Psycho' by Ava Max.**

* * *

Following the twins' spectacle, the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students trickled near the Goblet of Fire dropping their names for the tournament.

When I was sure that the Marauders weren't looking, I slipped into the Great Hall, leaving the gaping boys and girls behind.

The Great Hall was littered with a sparse number of students sleepily eating their breakfast. Even the professors' table was partially empty. The remaining professors looked the most relaxed that I had ever seen them in my whole life. The prankster inside me itched to grab my wand and send a spell towards the staff table to disrupt the peace.

Instead I calmly walked towards the table, scanning it for a familiar face.

Martha, who had just been finishing her food, stoically stood up and rushed towards me.

She started riffling through her papers, rapidly talking, "Ma'am, I've talked with Dumbledore and he's agreed. There is a problem of the preparation and the practices but we can manage that. I've prepared a schedule..."

"Calm down Martha," I interrupted, "We have enough time. Come along and sit with me. Once I finish breakfast, we'll discuss everything."

She pulled her papers close to her chest and nodded in return. We walked back to the staff table.

Martha started walking back to the chair she had previously been inhabiting. I tugged on her sleeve, stopping her in her pace.

She looked back at me and I shook my head, gesturing towards another part of the table. She looked back at me confused, but nodded and headed behind me to the empty chairs.

I took a seat next to a familiar black-clad man.

"Hello," I greeted cheerfully, plopping down on the seat beside him. Martha sat down beside me, like a picture of grace. If she found my sudden cheerful behaviour strange, she didn't comment.

"Ms. Strong," Snape nodded curtly.

"Hogwarts is such a beautiful castle," I whispered excitedly to him, looking around wide eyed. Then I grinned, "Though nothing like Ilvermony"

"I'm sure Ilvermony was..." he paused, "Special."

"Oh please professor," I laughed, hitting his hand, faking ignorance towards his cold demeanour, "No need for flattery. I'm sure you find your own school better. It is certainly wonderful. You can almost feel the ancient magic buzzing in the air. But old is boring, Ilvermony is comparatively so new and exciting. It's secrets still waiting to be discovered."

I babbled on and on, feeling Snape getting annoyed besides me. I laughed whenever he said something. He stabbed at his food with a fork.

The Marauders, including Remus, finally entered the hall. Fortunately, Snape snapped something out at me at that exact moment. I laughed out loud, catching the four boys' attention.

I watched their expression closely. Their faces dawned disgust and shock upon seeing my company, except Remus who just sighed at the boys' behaviour. Grudgingly, they dragged their feet towards the table.

I pretended not to notice them until they dropped into the seat besides Martha, just as I had expected, close enough to protect me but far enough to not be near Severus. I also didn't miss the way Severus glared at the group.

So their rivalry hadn't died down till now.

Perfect.

I greeted the boys quietly, contradictory to the cheerful greeting I'd given Snape, and then turned back to my food. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Severus' eyebrows twitch in surprise.

I slowly ate a bite of my breakfast.

"Why such an unenthusiastic response to your bodyguards?" Severus finally asked curiously, his face twisting in distaste at the word 'bodyguard'.

"Huh," I looked up jerkily, as if being disturbed from a deep thought, "Oh- uh- n- nothing. It's nothing."

I wrung my hand shyly.

He didn't look convinced but nodded and turned back to his breakfast.

"Well- um- actually," I whispered to him, making sure the Marauders weren't listening, "Don't judge. I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything but- do they seem a bit- reckless." I scoffed, "Well more like arrogant." My hand then shot up to my mouth, as if horrified by what I had said.

This peaked his attention. I suppressed a smirk.

"Oh merlin, I didn't mean to sound so rude," I said as if nervous, "They are just so rowdy. And yesterday, they were treating Mr. Filch so rudely." I looked at him as if I were expecting him to correct me, when in reality I already knew his response.

"I must say," Snape said, "I agree with your sentiments, Ms. Strong,"

"Oh really- I'm so glad," I said releasing a breath of relief, "I thought maybe I was just being silly."

"You weren't," he said bitterly, "They are just a bunch of arrogant Gryffindors, thinking that they have the right to do anything and be with anyone, because they are the society's 'ideal' type of people."

I wanted to point out that Remus was a werewolf, James had been a reputed bully, Sirius came from a family of death eaters and Peter was basically invisible. Not people I would necessarily consider the society's ideal type.

"People assume that they are the good guys," Snape added on, "I'm sure they wouldn't put them on such a high pedestal if they," he fleetingly gestured towards the Marauders, "looked like me. It all boils down to looks in the end."

"Exactly!" I said excitedly. "People usually think I'm just a pretty dumb blonde," I pouted, "I'm NOT dumb."

"Of course, Ms. Strong," he said, not exactly hiding his sarcasm.

"Call me Mica," I said happily.

He nodded in return. We talked on. I ignored the glances that the four boys were sending my way. When breakfast was finished, I got up and turned towards Snape extending a hand with a grin, "It was a pleasure to meet you Mr. Snape."

"Likewise," he said shortly, shaking my hand. He then turned around to walk away.

"Oi Snivellus," Sirius shouted, "Don't trouble the kids with your greasiness."

Snape paused in his steps. He then turned back, his robes billowing around him, and sneered at Sirius, "Look who is talking, flea-infested mutt."

"Run back to your precious chemistry set," Sirius glared at him.

"Isn't the full moon coming up recently? Maybe you should prepare."

Sirius' eyes flickered towards me and then to Remus. His friends exchanged nervous looks. Sirius looked back at Snape and asked, "Prepare for what?"

Snape's lips curled into a smirk. "For the potion you're making of course," he said, the lie so blatantly obvious to anyone who knew of Remus'... condition, "You know I'm making a potion for the full moon too, wouldn't want something to happen to it."

The scene was so familiar I almost felt like I was back in my fifth year. All we needed was Lily in Martha's place, shouting about how much of a toerag James is, while my brother looked at her moon-eyed.

Sirius face turned red. "You little- " he started saying, standing up. James put a hand on Sirius' shoulder, signalling for him to sit.

"Stop it Sirius," said James strictly, "This is not the time or place."

Impressive... At least someone over here grew up. Remus dropped his head into his hands with a sigh.

I dawned an appalled expression, looking between Sirius and Severus.

"We should- um- leave," I said hurriedly to the four boys and Martha. She nods and gets up to leave, the boys following.

When they weren't looking, I turned towards Snape and gave him an apologetic look. I then turned around and walked behind the group.

"What was that?" I asked Sirius once we had left the Great Hall.

"Nothing," he said, "Just an old feud."

More like an irrationally lifelong feud. I furrowed my eyebrows, "The 'feud' didn't sound so old."

"Doesn't matter. You stay away from slimy Slytherins like him, there hasn't been a single person from that house who hasn't gone evil."

"That's not true Sirius," Remus said smiling softly, his scars glinting in the light.

I clenched and unclenched my hands. "I trust your judgement. But I can't just start a rivalry with anyone, it isn't good for my reputation."

They nodded, "Of course," James said.

"Gosh that professor was being so rude though," I said furrowing my eyebrows, "He called you a mutt. Horrible! I can't believe I thought he was decent before."

"Horrible, yes horrible," Peter nodded in agreement eagerly.

I ignored him. "Well, to be fair Sirius did call him greasy first," Remus added. Sirius put a hand near his chest with an expression of mock offence.

"Betrayal," he said dramatically, "By my own friend."

"But what Sirius said is the truth," I said snickering, "He is pretty greasy."

James grinned and pointed towards me, "I like this one."

"What you didn't like me before?" I asked him teasingly.

"Nope," Sirius said. "Not one bit," James added. Peter muttered a quiet, "I like you," but I ignored him again.

I gasped dramatically, "And here I was thinking we were like best friends."

"We have high standards in friends," James said in a posh manner.

Remus rolled his eyes fondly at them. "Yeah, like the idiot-" he pointed at James, "The drama queen-" he gestured towards Sirius "And Peter," he then turned towards Peter.

"Oi!" James exclaimed.

"Merlin's soggy beard, I have been betrayed twice," Sirius added and pretended to faint.

I laughed out loud while inside I was cringing. They really thought that they were hilarious, didn't they?

We walked forward in silence. I looked towards Martha who was nervously fidgeting with her hands. She gave me an expression signalling that we needed to start working. I nodded and turned back towards the boys.

"Boys, I need to discuss something with Martha. How about we head out to that wizarding village nearby later- err- what was it called..."

"Hogsmeade, ma'am," Martha said without looking up.

I snapped my finger, "Yup, that one."

"Sure," Sirius said with a smile.

I finally looked towards Peter sending a little smirk, "It's a date then." He turned pink.

I turned and walked away. Martha right beside me.


	10. The Marauders

**To make up for the lack of chapters recently, I posted this chapter extra early for you guys.**

**This is the preliminary level of the revenge, it's only gonna escalate from here. I will just inform you that the revenge will proceed in steps. Along with that the remaining story of the present and past will too.**

**I really hope that you enjoy the story. I'm really excited over how this will proceed from here. Till now you guys have been extremely supportive about this story. If everything goes well, you will find it even better as it proceeds.**

**The song for this chapter is 'Bad' by Michael Jackson.**

* * *

"Which of these is the best place to grab a drink?" I asked, walking through the dusty streets of Hogsmeade, the Marauders right beside me.

"The Three Broomsticks of course," James said grinning, "That place makes the best firewhiskey in the world."

"Not to mention the bartender, Rosmerta, has a bit of a crush on me," Sirius leans in, winking at me.

"Sure," Remus snorts sarcastically, "And I'm in love Lucius Malfoy."

"Didn't know you swung that way Moony," James joked, nudging Remus in the chest.

"Moony?" I questioned the name, looking towards Remus.

"It's nicknames we have for each other," he replied, "Sirius is Padfoot, James is Prongs and Peter is-"

"Wormtail!" Peter jumped in, interrupting Remus.

I scrunched my nose at the name in disgust, "Wormtail? Seriously."

Peter's smile dimmed. He looked away whispering, "It seemed cool at the time."

"And you would find it cool too," James said looking at Peter smiling, swinging an arm around his shoulder, "If you knew the reason that we've chosen these names."

"And what is the reason?" I asked amused.

Sirius put a finger to his lips which were curved into a mischievous smile. "It's a secret. Revealing it could be..." he paused dramatically, "life-threatening!"

Remus blanched. "Stop being so melodramatic you prick," he said, whacking at Sirius' hand.

"Alright, alright," Sirius said rubbing his arm, "What's got your wand in a knot?"

"The fact that I'll have to deal with you all for a whole year," Remus replied tauntingly.

"You lived in the same dorm with us for seven years Moony," James pointed out.

"Is that it?" I interrupted the boys' banter, getting annoyed. I pointed towards a board that had a picture of two wands and a steaming mug on it, "The Three Broomsticks?"

"It is," Sirius said, "Come on- let's go inside."

We walked into the room and I was immediately hit a wave of warmth. The smell of butterbeer filled my nostrils and my mouth began to water. We bagged a booth near the wall. I sat on the inside of a couch, to remain hidden from the rest of the room. Nobody had recognised 'Mica Strong' yet, but I didn't want to take any chances.

Peter sat beside me. James on the other side of the table and Sirius beside him. Remus grabbed a chair from a nearby table to sit on.

Madame Rosmerta walked towards us with a notepad and a quill. When she saw the inhabitants of the booth, she let out a long groan.

"Oh- it's you four," she said.

"Nice to see you too Rosy," Sirius said cheekily grinning.

"What do you want to drink?" she asked, ignoring Sirius who pouted. James snickered quietly.

"Just a butterbeer, I have work later," Remus said, smiling politely.

"Merlin Lupin- when did you become so boring, a firewhiskey for me," James exclaimed.

"I'll take a gillywater," Sirius said.

"B-b- butterbeer," Peter added, seeming unsure.

Madame Rosmerta turned towards me. "James did say that this place has the best firewhiskey in the world," I said grinning at the bespectacled boy, "Let's see if that's true or not."

Rosmerta hummed in response and scribbled the order down.

"Tha..." she paused in her response, her face scrunching in concentration. She pointed her quill at me, "You. I've seen you somewhere before."

Her face then dawned with realisation, "Merlin's beard! You're the girl from the newspaper! The singer."

Sirius hushed her, "Keep it down Rosy. This is just a peaceful outing, no need for unwanted attention."

Rosmerta nodded, "Of course." She then looked at me with a smile, "I'm sorry that you're stuck with this lot." She jutted a thumb towards the boys. I laughed at this.

"Aw, don't be like that Rosy. You know you love me," Sirius grinned at her like a nymph.

She scoffed, "Fat chance." She then walked away to the bar.

"Rejected," Remus said teasingly.

"She's just in denial," Sirius sniffed.

I observed the Marauders carefully as Rosmerta brought out drinks. They were friendly with me, sure. But we were still not 'friends'. For this plan to proceed, I needed to earn their trust.

And what was the best way to get into a naive Gryffindor's good grace?

A sob story.

I gasped as if I had been struck with a sudden realisation, "James! You wouldn't happen to be related to Lily Potter by any chance?"

James looked at me surprised. "She's my wife," he said.

"No way!" I exclaimed, "THE Lily Potter. The one who has been fighting against the 'Anti-Werewolf Legislation'. She's you wife?!" I then leaned forward, "Is there any chance that I could meet her? She's my idol!"

James looked surprised, yet proud at the same time. "I'll check if she is free during the Christmas break."

"Thank you," I gushed out.

"You seem extremely passionate about this," Remus said suspiciously, "Why? Werewolves are supposed to be dangerous creatures."

"And I thought that you were smart, professor," I scoffed, "Werewolves are only dangerous during full moons when they are not in control of themselves. Otherwise they are just normal human beings with an ailment." I caught a glimpse of respect in the Marauders' eyes.

This was going to be hilariously easy.

"Besides, my mum fought against a similar act in America before she..." I paused looking down, "N- never mind that."

"What is it?" Sirius said worriedly.

"Uh- nothing," I said, "No need to worry about it. It's nothing."

"It's ok, you can tell us," Remus said kindly, "We won't judge."

I gnawed on my lip, nervously looking down at my drink, "My mom had just succeeded in getting rid of that law. But the blood-purists weren't happy." I paused, taking in a deep breath. "They were angry at her. My dad was a no-maj and my mum came from a pureblood family. By marrying him, she had already become a blood-traitor. Defending werewolves didn't help in elevating their opinion about her. One day she was returning from the market nearby and they," I choked for a second. I sent a non-verbal Aguamenti towards my eyes, faking a tear. "Th-they killed her," I whispered out, my voice breaking.

Silence spread over the table. I brought a hand towards my face, wiping the 'tears' away. Clearing my throat, I looked up.

"But I've grown from it," I said, raising my head and sending a broken smile towards the Marauders, "I'm fine now."

Sirius put a hand on mines with a mournful expression. "You don't have to pretend Mica," he said sincerely, "You don't have to pretend that you're fine. Not with us."

"He's right," James said, "We're friends aren't we."

BINGO! Friendship acquired!

"I thought you had high standards in friends," I laughed, making sure that there was an undertone of sadness.

"You can be an exception," Remus said with a soft smile.

"Really?" I asked, my voice softening.

"Really," Peter said, shaking his head rapidly. He sounding glad to finally be able to join the conversation.

"Th- thanks boys," I said, smiling shyly. They smiled back at me. We all settled into silence. Slowly sipping on our drinks, the boys deep in thought. As for me, I was having an internal party that would put the Ravenclaws' parties to shame.

"I should head back now, the fifth year Slytherin class will be arriving pretty soon," Remus said breaking the silence.

"So, should I," I said gulping down the firewhiskey in one go. Ignoring the familiar burn of the drink, I put the glass down and told the Marauders, "I have to discuss some business with Martha as well."

The other boys finished their drinks, disappointed over how short the trip was. I offered to pay the bill, but Sirius decided to act like a gentleman and pay it. I didn't put up much of a fight. His loss.

We headed back towards the castle, Sirius and James complaining along the way of how much they still had to show me. I assured them that we will the village again, but that didn't stop their whining. I noticed that the Marauders were much more inclusive of me in their friends' group. It wasn't unrealistically much; we weren't going to have pillow fights and share secrets over chocolates. But it was enough for me.

In the castle, we parted ways. Remus went towards his castle; the remaining Marauders went into James' room for.

I entered my own room, heading towards the desk. I grabbed a parchment, quill and ink. I wrote a note for to summon Martha. Folding the parchment into a paper plane, I put a charm on the plane. It lifted from my hand and headed towards the window. I pushed the window open and turned towards the plane muttering, "Martha Jenkins."

The paper plane rushed out of the window, I rested my hands on the window sill, watching the plane fly in front of a vivid sunset. I sighed happily, pleased with how the day had gone.


	11. Look What You Made Me Do

**Leaving that behind. Let's focus on the chapter guys. I think you all will like the ending. It's exactly what you all had been waiting for.**

**This is an extra long chapter, but I was getting impatient to reach the revenge too.**

* * *

I stood outside the doors of the Great Hall. I had on a beautiful halter dark red dress which reached the floor in the back and went just above my knees in the front, along with a black leather belt. This was paired with black leather boots with hints of red in it. I also wore finger-less black leather gloves. Finally, slightly hidden my blonde bangs was my black mask which faded off into red at the sides. My hair had been straightened and the tips of it dyed with red and black to match my outfit.

"We're here!" someone exclaimed from behind me.

I turned around and saw Sarah and Jean along with my other band members Matthew Goldstein and Sanaya Sharma walking towards me.

Sarah was wearing a short green dress with black strappy heels, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Sanaya was wearing a short black dress along with hollow out, open toe gold heels. They were both wearing similar golden masks. Matthew was wearing a black tuxedo over a navy-blue shirt. and black shoes. I could see that Jean had tried very hard to wear something formal. He was wearing a black blazer over a shirt with black and white stripes. Along with that he was was wearing ripped blue jeans and brown sneakers. Both the boys were wearing black masks with blue designs on it.

Matthew was the one who had spoken.

"How are you guys?" I asked, with a wide grin on my face.

"Bored," Sarah said dryly.

"Oh, shut it," Jean said, he then turned to me, "You look nice."

"Don't I always," I said with a smirk. He gave me a lopsided grin, "Nope."

I mock gasped.

"How did you even get these three muggles in here?" Sanaya said, jutting a thumb towards the other band members.

Sanaya was a muggleborn, and the only member of our band who had magical blood in her, except me. Matthew's wife was a witch so he knew about the wizarding community. You already know about Sarah and Jean.

"Martha pulled some strings," I said, "Had meetings with Dumbledore-"

"He's the headmaster, right?" Matthew asked.

"The barmy one," Jean added grinning.

"Yup, that's the one," I said, slightly annoyed by their interruption, "Anyways, she contacted you guys, set the schedule for the practices, yada yada. Basically, she did everything."

"Thank god," Matthew said, "We really needed those practices."

Matthew and Sanaya had been playing for me since the moment I started my career so they pretty much knew how to play my songs by heart. Jean and Sarah had needed a bit of practice, but they were pretty talented so they caught on quickly. We had gotten out of Hogwarts by the floo in my room and set up a stage similar to the one that we'll be performing on to practice on.

I was about to say something when Dumbledore's voice reached my ears signalling that the feast had ended.

"The Goblet of Fire still has a few minutes till it gives its judgement," he said.

Jean made a face and mouthed 'Goblet of Fire?" at me. I shook my head, signalling that I'll explain later.

"While we wait," he said, "We have a special Halloween performance by none other than, Mica Strong."

A smattering of applause broke over the hall. I could faintly hear the excited buzzing of the students.

"Should we go in?" Sanaya asked.

I shook my head, "Martha will tell us when we have to enter. She's setting everything up."

We waited for a few moments. Finally, Martha walked out of the Great Hall, "We're ready ma'am."

I nodded grinning, "Perfect."

Walking into the Great Hall, I couldn't help but be impressed. The lights had been dimmed all over the room and over the stage it was pitch black. The ceiling had been charmed to show a stormy sky. An occasional lightning would light up the room before drowning it back into darkness.

The stage was near the doors of the Hall, it's surface titled. Charms had been put over it to prevent us from slipping.

Sarah headed towards the drum set, Jean towards the keyboard, Matthew towards the guitar and Sanaya towards her workstation.

I looked at the staff table and paused. A familiar red-head sat beside James.

Lily Potter had decided to grace us with her presence. Well, the more the merrier, isn't that what they say.

I walked towards the centre of the stage and put my hand over the mic. The others waited for my command to start the music. I nodded.

**(A/N Start the song 'Look What You Made Me Do' by Taylor Swift)**

**(A/N Fun fact: It was while listening to this song that I got the idea for this story. Go TayTay!)**

(The music started. Light fell on the stage. I looked up slowly, taking in the audience. Then I looked straight at Dumbledore who was in the centre of the staff table. I took the mic out of its stand and started singing,)

I don't like your little games  
Don't like your tilted stage

(The stage which had originally been tilted straightened itself with a jerk)

The role you made me play  
Of the fool, no, I don't like you

(I started walking down the stage, the light followed me. My band-mates gave me confused looks as this wasn't what we had practised in the rehearsals)

I don't like your perfect crime  
How you laugh when you lie

(I had reached the bottom of the stage and stood there looking at the four tables)

You said the gun was mine

(I extended my hand in a gun sign)

Isn't cool (I shook my head), no, I don't like you, oh!

(Sanaya and Sarah sang the harmonies)

But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time  
Honey, I rose up from the dead (I pointed upwards), I do it all the time  
I've got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined  
I check it once (I held up one finger), then I check it twice (two fingers), oh!

(I apparated in front of the staff table)

Ooh,

(I tilted my slowly head towards the Marauders and Lily)

Look what you made me do

(I looked on the opposite side of the table where Snape sat)

Look what you made me do

(I turned my head slowly at Dumbledore)

Look what you just made me do  
Look what you just made me

Ooh,

(I smirked and started walking back)

Look what you made me do  
Look what you made me do

(I turned around)

Look what you just made me do  
Look what you just made me do

(I apparated next to some platinum blonde-haired kid in Slytherin)

I don't like your kingdom keys  
They once belonged to me

(I pointed at myself)

You ask me for a place to sleep  
Locked me out (I frowned) and threw a feast

What!?(Sanaya said)

The world moves on(I swung my hand), another day, another drama, drama (I climbed on the seats nearby)  
But not for me(I put a hand on my chest), not for me, all I think about is karma(I dramatically put a hand on my forehead)  
And then the world moves on, but one thing's for sure (I grinned)  
Sure (Sarah said)  
Maybe I got mine, but you'll all get yours (I raised one of my hands)

(Sarah and Sanaya harmonised)

But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time (I made a ticking motion)  
Nick of time (Sarah said)  
Honey, I rose up from the dead (I stepped onto the table), I do it all the time(I shrugged)  
I do it all the time (Sanaya said)  
I've got a list of names (I made a scribbling motion) and yours is in red, underlined  
I check it once, then I check it twice, oh! (I swung my hip out)

(I apparated on top of the Ravenclaw table)

Ooh, look what you made me do

(I looked over the room)

Look what you made me do  
Look what you just made me do

(I ran a hand through my hair)

Look what you just made me

(I started walking forward)

Ooh, look what you made me do  
Look what you made me do

(I looked back at the stage with a grin)

Look what you just made me do  
Look what you just made me do

(I reached the edge of the table and sat on it gracefully)

I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me

(I looked at a boy from Beauxbatons nearby and winked)

I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams

(I stared at the staff table)

I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me

(I jumped off the table still looking at the staff table)

I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams

(I walked towards the Hufflepuff table next. Sarah and Sanaya harmonised)

I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me  
I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams  
I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me  
I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams (I jerked my head to one side, my hair swinging)

(Sanaya and Sarah sang)  
Ooh, look what you made me do

(I apparated to the staff table, leaning against it)

Look what you made me do  
Look what you just made me do

(I held up my hand to my ear in a call gesture)

"I'm sorry, the old me can't come to the phone right now"

Ooh, look what you made me do (Sanaya and Sarah sang)

"Why?" (I scrunched my eyebrows)

Look what you made me do (Sanaya and Sarah sang)

"Oh, (I sweeped my eyes over the students dramatically)  
'cause she's dead!"

Oh! (Both of Sanaya and Sarah exclaimed)

(I apparated on top of the Gryffindor table)

Ooh, look what you made me do  
Look what you made me do

(I traced a fake tear down my cheeks)

Look what you just made me do  
Look what you just made me

(I bent my head towards the Weasley twins)

Ooh, look what you made me do

(I mocked an expression of betrayal)

Look what you made me do

(They grinned at me, I grinned back)

Look what you just made me do

Look what you just made me do

(I started walking forward slowly with the beat)

Ooh, look what you made me do

(I grinned at an excited Alyssa)

Look what you made me do  
Look what you just made me do  
Look what you just made me

(I reached the edge of the table and sat on my haunches)

Ooh, look what you made me do

(I rolled my eyes)

Look what you made me do

(I smirked at the staff table)

Look what you just made me do  
Look what you just made me do

I dropped my hand that was holding the mic and stood up. The hall broke out into applause.

I grinned, giving them a bow.

"Give it up for my amazing band members," I exclaimed, extending a hand in the direction of the band. Another round of applause followed. I stepped down from the table and walked back towards my band.

Martha rushed forward, brightening the lights and packing up the stage along with its instruments. The band and I walked out of the room. As soon as we did, Sarah leaned against the doors with a grin on her face while Matthew whooped, punching the air.

"That was a rush," Sanaya exclaimed.

"Correction, that was AWESOME!" Sarah exclaimed.

I laughed. "Get used to it because you two," I pointed at Jean and Sarah, "are now officially permanent members of the band."

Jean grinned, faking a sigh of relief, "Thank god! What would we have done if you didn't include us in your band."?

Martha came out of the room at that moment.

"You guys go and grab a dinner wherever you want, you too Martha," I said, "My treat."

"Wait," Sanaya said frowning, "You're not coming."

I shook my head. "No, I need to be here. Tonight, is important for the Triwizard Competition, the competition I told you guys about," I said with a soft smile, "But you guys go ahead. Don't let me spoil the fun."

"Do you need me to do something before we leave," Martha asked quietly.

"No Martha," I smiled, "Go on and enjoy. You deserve a night off."

"Bu-" started Sanaya before Sarah interrupted her, "Let her be. We shouldn't coddle her like this."

"Can't you take one night off," Matthew pleaded.

Jean stepped into help, "No, no man. Didn't you hear, tonight they have some important crazy magic ritual thingy."

Jean and Sarah escorted the others out, while Sanaya ranted about how it wasn't a crazy ritual...

Before they exited Sarah and Jean looked back at me with questioning expressions. I gave them a tired expression signalling that I just didn't feel like going. Jean nodded, causing me to give them a grateful smile. Along with Sarah, he led the others away.

I sighed in relief.

With a wave of my wand I transfigured the clothes I had been wearing into something more casual.

A loose purple crop top and black shorts over which was a blue wizarding heels turned to black converse. The only thing that remained the same was my hair and a silver pendant hanging from my neck which I tucked inside my top.

I then opened the door and walked in, all eyes on me, excitedly whispering. I walked up to the staff table and settled into an empty chair between James and Peter. Besides James sat Lily and besides Peter sat Sirius and then Remus.

I turned towards Lily with an excited grin, "Oh god! Lily Potter. It's such an honour to meet you!" I extended my hand.

She took my hand shaking it. "The honour is all mine," Lily said with a pleasant smile, "James has told me about you."

"Has he," I flushed, playing the part of the doting fangirl, I then playfully glared at James, "I hope it was nothing bad."

"No, no all good things," she laughed, "He told how passionate you were about the 'Anti-Werewolf Legislation' and about your-" her voice faltered, as if she hadn't been planning on saying this, "um- mum."

I let my face darken. Inside I was doing somersaults. I didn't have to narrate that sob story again. Acting all depressed and helpless is so annoying when all I wanted to do was sneer at the group around me.

"Sorry," she said.

"Th-that's fine," I stuttered out.

"So," Sirius blurted out, trying to change the topic, "That was an amazing performance. How did you apparate on Hogwarts grounds?"

"Oh, Martha talked to Dumbledore and he manipulated the wards enough that one person, a.k.a. I, could apparate."

"Well, the Goblet is almost ready to make its decision," Dumbledore announced. Everyone turned towards the white-bearded professor.

x*x*x*x*x

I shut the door of my room behind me and leaned against its cold wood.

I thought of how the choosing of the champions had gone.

Viktor Krum had been chosen as the champion of Durmstrang, Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons and Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts. Then we went to the room, where I had waited along with Crouch and Bagman on my first day at Hogwarts. There I had zoned out as Bagman explained how the first task would proceed, already knowing all of that. I then had to slapp on a polite smile congratulating the champions and their excited headmasters or headmistresses respectively.

After that I had encountered Lily outside. I pretended to be really tired while talking. She noticed and insisted that I go and rest. I 'reluctantly' had to leave my 'idol'. But not before she made me promise to visit them in the Christmas. Normally, I would have been annoyed but I was glad. This visit could be of advantage if it timed well with my plan.

I smirked, walking over to my backpack. Reaching inside I pulled out the notebook which had contained Sarah and Jean's address. I riffled through the pages and finally reached the page I was looking for.

I ripped the page out and then dropped the notebook back into the bag where it came from.

I walked to the bulletin board, which unlike its hotel counterpart, was completely empty. I pinned the ripped-out page to the board. It had a list on it.

I pulled out my wand and cast the glamour charms. Now no one would be able to see the contents of this board, except for me.

It was almost complete.

I went to my desk and pulled out a red marker from one of the drawers, then I walked back towards the board, uncapping the marker on the way.

I underlined the seventh and last item on my list.

\- Peter Pettigrew

I took a step back and hummed under my breath, "I've got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined..."

The revenge had begun.


	12. Detention

**I'm so so so so so so excited. Like really excited. Superbly excited!**

**Did I mention that I was excited?**

**The revenge is starting. A bit of a flashback in this too.**

**I'm trying to update as often as I could, to quench all of your boredom during quarantine (and mine too to be honest. Don't worry, I'm not some selfless hero).**

**Hope you enjoy reading as much as I loved writing this story!**

**The song for this chapter is 'LA Devotee' by Panic! At The Disco.**

* * *

_Lisa walked into Slughorn's potions classroom to report for her detention. She might have laughed about it with Remus the day she got her detention but at the moment, she could feel nothing but annoyance._

_"Ms. Potter," the jolly professor said, "Come in, come in. We're just waiting for one more person to join us." His face then darkened spotting someone behind me, "There she is."_

_Lisa turned back to look at the girl who was accompanying her for detention. The girl had short brown hair and chartreuse eyes. The colour of her tie indicated that she was a Gryffindor. She skipped into the room with a mischievous grin on her face._

_"Hey there, Sluggy," she said, "How you doin'?"_

_Lisa barely stifled a snort at the nickname. Slughorn on the other hand turned beet red._

_"Miss Fortescue, you must show respect to your teachers. Call me Professor," he said, his chest puffing out._

_"Ok," the girl said raising an eyebrow, "Professor Sluggy."_

_The professor huffed out in anger, he stuttered trying to come up with a response. "You'll be scrubbing the cauldrons. Without magic!" was what he finally blurted out. With that he stormed out of the classroom and into his office._

_Once the tail of Slughorn's cloak swished behind the closing door, Lisa burst out laughing._

_"That was bloody brilliant!" she exclaimed between fits of laughter, "I've never seen Slughorn so angry."_

_The girl smirked proudly, "What can I say? I have a talent."_

_Lisa giggled in response. Still grinning, the two girls moved towards the professor's table where the cauldrons and cleaning supplies rested. Lisa grabbed two pair of gloves and gave one to the girl on her right._

_"I'm Lisa, by the way. Lisa Potter," she said, starting to apply soap on the first cauldron._

_The girl looked up with a questioning expression, "Potter? Like James Potter?"_

_"Yeah- he's my brother," she said quietly, trying to prevent the frown from appearing on her face._

_The Gryffindor must have sensed that something was off. She diverted the topic of the conversation, "My name's Alice Fortescue."_

_Lisa then heard a soft, defensive, "I'm a muggleborn- dad's a squib, mum's a muggle."_

_She looked up to confused to see Alice's eyes on the green and silver of her tie. Lisa immediately felt self-conscious. Alice seemed like a pretty cool girl, someone who Lisa would like to be friends with. Would she also judge Lisa for her house?_

_As soon as she thought of this, Lisa was suddenly felt an urge of defensiveness flood through her._

_She couldn't let a stupid house define her whole life!_

_"I'm a blood traitor," Lisa said defiantly, her chin tilted upwards as if daring Alice to say something unpleasant._

_Alice looked up at this curiously. Lisa's impulsive courage seemed to slowly trickle away under Alice's gaze._

_Alice then grinned, turning back to her cauldron, "Nice."_

_Lisa couldn't help the soft smile from gracing her face. She also turned back to her cauldron._

_"What are you doing in detention?" Alice asked glancing at Lisa, her hands still scrubbing the cauldron in front of her, "No offence, but you don't really seem like the 'rule-breaker' type." She made air-quotations while saying the word 'rule-breaker'._

_Lisa hid a smirk behind her hair. If only, this girl knew what she had done during Halloween._

_"Pissed off Madame Pince," Lisa said._

_Alice snorted, "Yeah, that Librarian has one hell of a temper."_

_"You have no idea," Lisa laughed along, "What about you? What did this lioness do?" She pointed at Alice._

_"Lioness?" Alice said, wrinkling her nose. Lisa shrugged, pointing towards girl's tie. "Gryffindor," she said._

_"That's like calling you a snake just cause you're a Slytherin," Alice pointed out, then she leaned back grinning, "But do feel free to call me a lioness. It makes me sound bad-ass."_

_Lisa laughed, the cauldron almost slipping out of her hand in the process. But she grabbed it quickly._

_"So," she said, once she had re-adjusted her grip on the cauldron, "What did you do?"_

_"Burst a cauldron," Alice said sheepishly. On Lisa's incredulous look, she raised both her hands in surrender, "It was an accident I swear!"_

_Lisa chuckled at this. She opened her mouth to say something when she was interrupted by Slughorn's booming voice, "Less talk, more work."_

_Both the girls grinned at each other bemused before turning back to their cauldrons._

_Lisa estimated that the silence remained for about two minutes._

I sat at dinner with the Marauders. I laughed with them over- something- James had said. I didn't really pay attention...

While no was looking, I sent a look of annoyance towards Severus, subtly pointing at the Marauders. He frowned at them and nodded along. I turned back towards the Marauders, apparently, they were recounting one of the pranks they had pulled here, at Hogwarts.

"Yeah- yeah, and then we released the bats overhead-" James said.

"Must have looked a lot like Snape," I muttered under my breath, as if I didn't want anyone to hear, but in reality, I made sure that the four Marauders heard.

They burst out laughing. Remus and James at least looked like they were trying to control their laughter, Sirius on the other hand was laughing raucously. Peter was sniggering under his breath.

I let myself flush slightly, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

I can't deny that I was enjoying this a lot. Complaining about the Marauders with Severus, insulting Severus with the Marauders. I felt like a juggler, alternating between different groups. It was exhilarating.

"Cupcake?" Peter asked, holding up a chocolate cupcake towards me.

"No thanks," I said, not looking in his direction but towards the other Marauders.

"Ok," he said, looking down dejected.

James cracked another 'joke', and I forced out a laugh.

My eyes glazed towards Peter to note his expression. The boy played with his food looking down, cracking a half-hearted smile whenever his friends laughed. Sometimes he would open his mouth as if to say something, but would be interrupted unknowingly by his friends.

In short, he hadn't changed at all.

My eyes then moved towards his arm. His sleeves had ridden up to leave the smooth, unmarked skin. No sign of the skull and snake tattoo that had haunted me for so long. It was obvious that he had used a glamour charm, the dark mark couldn't physically fade away.

I looked back towards the Marauders, occasionally feeling Peter glancing towards me, but ignoring it.

I grinned as the Marauders laughed.

I guess I could take revenge on Peter in a much more uncomplicated manner by just revealing his dark mark to his friends. Merlin, everything in this whole plan could have been done in a much more uncomplicated manner.

But what's the fun in that.

Playing with these people was so much more enjoyable.

Finally, we finished dinner and headed towards our rooms. The Marauders continuing to loudly discuss all the pranks they had pulled, attracting a lot of attention.

I spotted Harry and Lisa watching their parents embarrassed.

Lisa caught my eye, and she flushed red.

I just grinned good-naturedly at her, waving softly.

She sheepishly waved back, smiling.

I then turned back towards the Marauders who were still submerged in their own glory.

I leaned towards Peter, who I was purposefully walking right next to, and whispered, "Your friends are SO cool."

He looked towards his friends with an expression of envy and longing. He spoke softly, "Yeah, they are."

I pretended as if I didn't notice his mood.

"They're handsome too," I grinned at him, internally I was gagging, "How is it that only one of them is married?"

Peter looked down, shrugging. I continued on, rubbing salt in the wound, "Do you think one of them might go out with me if I asked?"

Peter looked up. In a small voice he said, "Sirius might. I'm not too sure about Remus."

Peter was insecure and jealous. This was as clear as daylight. A perfect flaw to exploit. I remember how elated I had felt when I had figured out his pathetically visible crush on me the first day we met.

What better way to fan this feeling of envy than his crush?

"Really?" I asked, looking Sirius up and down. I then turned towards Peter with a large grin, "Thanks Peter. You are such a great friend!"

"No problem," he said bitterly. I pretended to not notice this.

The rest of the trip I kept my eyes on Sirius, making sure that Peter noticed. Staring at Sirius in that manner was like trying to stare at an annoying brother.

But it could have been worse. I might have had to ogle at my real brother, James.

I suppressed a shudder at that.

We finally, reached our rooms. We exchanged farewells and the Marauders went into their rooms, I lingered for a few moments, watching Sirius leave.

Peter who had been paying attention to me the whole way here noticed this and looked down.

I turned around and entered my room, closing the door behind me with a satisfied smile.


	13. The Unknown The Unwanted The Unneeded

**Hello! How are you all doing?! Are you bored, craving to go out (like me) or absolutely loving the lack of social interaction (also me)?...**

**...**

**...It sucks to be an ambivert.**

**Anyways, guess what guys. I HIT OVER 10 FAVOURITES/FOLLOWS! ****YAY! (*throws confetti everywhere*)**

**I'm not sure how good this chapter is, but I liked writing it, so I hope you like reading it!**

**The song for this chapter is 'Whatever It Takes' by Imagine Dragon.**

**WARNING: A bit of profanity in this chapter. So, all you weak hearted souls may want to turn away.**

* * *

Peter's POV

I was used to it.

I was used to being the one that everyone forgot about. The marauder that didn't fit in. The unpopular, unattractive, silent one.

It was just who I was.

Didn't stop me from being bitter about it.

I had never fit in with the group, it was obvious.

Sirius and James had already become friends on the Hogwarts express even before our sorting in first year. Remus and I were included in the group only because we were their dorm-mates.

Then our third year came and we found out that Remus was a werewolf. Soon Remus shifted from the outsider in our group, to the glue of the marauders. His secret made us stronger and more united than before.

And I was left alone in the shadows.

My insecurities grew.

In fourth year, we became animagus.

And I was so proud. I was the first to become an animagus. Finally, there was something in which I had beaten the others. James was great in Transfiguration; Sirius was amazing in Care of Magical Creatures and Remus was a Defence Against the Dark Arts genius. I was just the guy that was below average in everything I did. It wasn't a good feeling to be surrounded by amazingly talented people when you were just mediocre.

I was so proud until I realised...

James was a magnificent stag, Sirius a cool Grim and I was a...

Rat.

Mica was right, Wormtail is a stupid name. Nothing like Padfoot, Prongs or Moony. Those were amazing names.

I tried fitting in with them, I tried becoming them. I would tag along in their pranks, laugh at their jokes, encourage them when they made fun of the Slytherins. I'm sure they didn't mean to leave me out, but it just happened on its own. They had similar tastes and interests. I was just the guy who pretended have similar tastes and interests to fit in.

I guess it was in sixth year that things changed.

I had always admired James most in the group. He didn't treat me as inferior or as stupid. Sure, sometimes he would forget about my presence but I couldn't blame him. Just look at me, at my lacklustre personality.

He was so confident in himself. Even after repeatedly being rejected by Lily in the most embarrassing manners, he would not give up hope. He was determined, brave, smart and a great friend. He was the one who came up with the idea of becoming animagus for Remus. He was so loyal and witty. Not to mention he was extremely charismatic and popular.

He was everything I wanted to be. I always tried to copy him, be like him!

In such an attempt, before the summer of our sixth year, I tried to look like him.

I got a haircut similar to his unruly hair.

My tie had been hanging loosely around my neck, the top button of my shirt undone. I had draped my cloak over my shoulder, not wearing it, like I had often seen Sirius do. My shirt sleeves was folded up.

I had even lost a few pounds to make myself seem more fit.

As I had walked towards the train compartment where the marauders always sat, I noticed some people stare at me.

I couldn't help but smile at the attention.

I had walked into the compartment, trying to exude confidence.

The others had spared me a glance with a few 'hey Peter' s before they did a double take and looked at me with eyes wide.

The attention was unfamiliar, and I would have shied away if I wasn't too busy basking in its glory.

Then, Sirius burst out laughing.

"What in merlin' soggy balls happened to you?" Sirius wheezed out in between laughter, "You look like you- like you have walked through a shit storm. And your hair looks like a hedgehog!"

My world had immediately come crashing down.

James' was trying to give a chastising look to Sirius but failing miserably as he himself kept chuckling.

"Don't listen to them Wormtail," Remus had said, shooting a look towards the two boys, "You look great."

I knew that Moony was trying to be comforting me, but it wasn't really working. Remus was too nice for his own good, even if I had looked like a banshee, he would have said that I looked great.

"N-no worries," I had stuttered out, my hand which had been holding my cloak dropping to my side. I walked into the compartment slowly, "I was running late so I didn't get to dress up properly."

I shoved my trunk onto the rack above our seats, not looking at them.

"I was just going to the washroom to dress up properly."

"Thank god," Sirius had muttered out, "No offence Wormtail, but you looked like you just rolled out of bed, but worse. And we have seen you when you roll out of bed."

James had rolled his eyes, "Shut it Padfoot!" Though he was still grinning.

I had walked out of the compartment then, heading towards the washroom.

On the way there, I noticed the people stares again.

But now they didn't seem like looks of admiration.

I felt my shoulders stiffen as I saw a group of 5th year Ravenclaw girls point at me and then snicker among themselves.

I looked down, not wanting to feel any worse.

I walked into the washroom and looked into the mirror.

I had thought I looked so good that morning. But now I could see the truth.

I looked a toddler trying to play dress up. Trying to be someone else.

I buttoned my shirt back, and tightened my tie. Then I slowly unravelled the folds on my shirt sleeves and put on my robe.

Finally, I pulled out my wand and tapped my head muttering, "Capillium".

It was a simple spell, something we learnt in fourth year at Hogwarts.

Nothing happened.

I glared at myself in the mirror, my eyes filled with self-loathing.

Of course. Pathetic, mousy Peter couldn't even perform a fourth-year spell.

I muttered the spell again with unnecessary force. My hair flopped down from its unruly state, returning to it how it originally looked, albeit a bit shorter.

I hastily wiped away a tear that had been rolling down my cheek before anyone could come in.

It was then that my insecurities had turned to bitterness.

My unease to rage.

Not fitting in just fuelled my passion to become better.

It was in seventh year that I finally got the chance to prove my worth as Lucius Malfoy approached me with the offer of joining the Dark Lord. A once in a lifetime opportunity.

My fate only seemed to become better when I got offered a position in the Order of the Phoenix. I rose in ranks amongst the Death Eaters. I was the spy, the bane of the light, a hero of the dark.

I finally belonged. I had never felt better.

And I had never felt worse.

I made horrible mistakes in those days. At points of time I would feel so guilty, so ashamed that it was overwhelming.

But I was in too deep and I was too scared to go against the Dark Lord.

The Dark Lord then fell and I saw hope. I could begin a new life, bury all my mistakes into the past. I had gotten over my insecurities and fears. I was ready to move forward.

Until a certain Mica Strong walked into my life.

I had heard her songs before and I vaguely remember thinking that she was talented.

But when I saw her sitting in Moody's office like a Greek Goddess on her throne, I felt my knees turn to jelly and my heart race.

She was bloody gorgeous.

When I had shaken her hand, I swear I saw her smile grow wider.

It gave me hope...

But when we arrived at Hogwarts, she overlooked me just like everyone else did.

I tried to comfort myself with the thought that she was just shallow and cared only about looks.

But soon I became unsure of that.

On our first day there, she had seemed so friendly with Snape, who wasn't exactly easy on the eyes, and if it weren't for the fight that he had with Sirius she might have still been friends with him.

She was so nice to Alyssa, the sweet little girl she barely knew. If she was shallow, she wouldn't have cared, she wouldn't have given Alyssa a second glance.

And what she told us about our mom at Hogsmeade. It was heart-breaking...

In my mind it was becoming abundantly clear that she wasn't just a shallow pretty face.

So, I hoped that she would get to know me better and maybe- just maybe- start to like me.

But of course, it was Sirius that she chose. It's always them.

Always.

And it doesn't make sense. Cause they're obnoxious and loud and immature and rude. Why should they get everything? It's not fair. Why is it always them?

Always.

Always.

Always.

We started at the same time. But Sirius and James are senior aurors. They go on exciting adventures. I'm stuck getting Moody's coffee.

Remus is a dangerous werewolf. Shunned by society. A target of discrimination. Yet he has a higher salary.

James is married. Yet he still has girls fawning over him. Beautiful, young girls. Who barely spare me a second glance.

Sirius was Harry's godfather. Remus was Alyssa's. Who was I? Just the awkward Uncle Pete.

The punching bag.

The idiot.

The tag along.

The unknown.

The unwanted.

The unneeded.

That's who I have always been.

Always. Always.

Always...

And just like Mica reignited in me an old feeling of bitterness.

_ "Oi Wormtail!" a voice from my right came, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I looked up to see James watching me intently as he lay on his bed. "Whatcha thinking?"

I was a bit surprised. They never noticed whether I was silent or not. Of course, they didn't...

"Nothing," I said softly.

"You sure Wormy? You seem awfully quiet," Remus said from the chair near the fireplace on which he was sitting.

Wormy, I hated being called.

"Are you thinking about..." James started hesitantly, "Mica?"

My head snapped up and I felt my cheeks turn red.

Sirius who had been laying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling, turned to James confused, "Why would he be think-"

Then his eyes fell on my red cheeks and he immediately sat up.

"Bloody hell," he exclaimed before a mischievous grin grew on his, "Wormtail has a crush!"

"N-no," I started to stutter but under my friends' scrutinising stares I immediately gave up, "Maybe. Just a little bit."

Sirius stood up dramatically at this, "You hear that mates. Operation: Get Wormtail a Date, BEGINS!" he raised his arms as if he was giving a great speech.

I scoffed, "As if she'd ever be interested in a guy like me."

"That's not true," Remus frowned, "You're a great guy Pete."

"Besides if she says no, it's her loss," James said defiantly.

"Which is not gonna happen," Sirius said, pointing a finger at James, "Because with our help, she wouldn't be able to say no to Wormtail!"

With our help.

I was trying to be grateful for their support, I really was. But these three words kept echoing in my head.

With our help.

That's all I was reduced to.

Someone who needed to depend on their more popular and talented friends to do anything in life. Even to get a girl to like them.

I hated it!

I smiled at his friends as they further discussed how they could help me get a date, but inside I could feel a pit in my stomach. And it only seemed to grow by the second.

Did they say that envy was green? Cause for me it was red, a bright fiery red.

I was determined. From now on I was gonna be, Peter Pettigrew.

Not the marauders sidekick. Not the shivering, bumbling mess. Not the accidental Gryffindor.

I was gonna be strong and powerful. Greatness would touch my feet.

No longer would I envy others, I will make sure they envy me.

Then she would see what I am capable of.

* * *

**Capillium - Hair-changing spell**


	14. Money

**Sometimes this fic is so hard to write as I actually like everyone in the Marauders era, almost everyone at least. And I have to write a main character who despises most of them. Oh, the pain! (Melodramatically sigh)**

**But in this chapter came up a character that I genuinely hate. So, it was easier to write my loathing towards her. I may have exaggerated it, but it's personal people.**

**But anyways, hope you like this chapter. No flashbacks.**

**The song for this chapter is 'The Little Mermaid | Poor Unfortunate Souls | Harry Potter style' by Whitney Avalon.**

* * *

A person's greatest strength is often their greatest weakness.

And what was the Marauders greatest strength?

Their unity.

Take that away and their strength decreases tenfold.

I hear a knock on my door snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Ma'am," came Martha's voice, "Are you ready? We have to reach the recording booth by 3."

"Come in Martha," I said, as I finish putting on my mascara.

She walked in wearing a white cotton shirt, black pants and black heels. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing rose-gold, round tops and a matching rose-gold watch.

I was wearing a baby pink, off-shoulder, loose cashmere sweater along with blue, worn-out jean shorts. This was accompanied with large grey hoop earrings, a grey chain and a grey watch. My silver pendant was tucked under my sweater. My hair was arranged into a loose braid.

"Just a second," I said, screwing the cap of the mascara back on.

I walked back towards my bed and picked up my brown backpack, unzipping it. I riffled through its content, ensuring that I had everything I needed. Once I was done, I closed the bag with a satisfied hum and I swung the bag over my shoulder. I then walked towards my black converse, picking them up and walked towards my bed to tie them on.

"Have you told the others that I'll be out?" I asked Martha, referring to the Marauders.

She nodded, "They were concerned for your safety until I reminded that you'll be in the muggle world where you'll be with your actual bodyguards."

I snorted, nodding shortly. Getting up I faced the wall where the floo was built and said, "Tapetum."

The bricks of the wall twisted and turned with a rumbling sound shifting towards the side, like they did at Diagon Alley's entrance, to reveal a fireplace. A vase stood on a table beside it which was filled to the brim with floo powder. I grabbed a handful of the floo powder and threw it into the fireplace. Green flames erupted when the powder touched the floor of the fireplace. I walked into the fire and clearly enunciated, "The Leaky Cauldron".

Immediately the green flames engulfed me. I felt like I was being sucked into a tornado as I twisted rapidly. My thoughts flashed to the first time I had travelled by floo. I had thrown all over the carpet after the trip had ended. It had taken Pip two weeks to get rid of the smell, and James two months to stop teasing me. This was before we had gone to Hogwarts.

Seeing the flames die down, I stepped out and took in the familiar sight of the inn.

The inn was sparsely occupied, which I was grateful for seeing as I had forgotten to bring my hoodie.

I felt the flames of the floo swirl up behind me and stepped aside to let Martha come in. She looked slightly green as she stepped out of the fireplace, but in true Martha-fashion, kept her head high.

"Do you need a moment?" I asked her knowingly.

She looked like she was going to answer in the negative but, thankfully, nodded and braced herself against the wall.

"Blimey, it's Mica Strong!" I heard Tom, the innkeeper, exclaim from behind the counter which was beside me.

"We don't need the whole world to know," I said smiling, my voice holding no bite.

"Apologies ma'am," he said, tipping the wizard's hat he was wearing, unknowingly in an amusing manner, "Could I get you anything?"

"Not at the moment, maybe when I return," I said, then my eyes fell on Martha, "But maybe a glass of water for my companion."

He nodded and then left, soon returning with the glass of water. I handed it to Martha who took it gratefully, drinking it all in one gulp.

"You okay now?" I asked. She just nodded shakily. I observed her worried.

When I was sure that she was feeling fine I smiled and said, "Let's go then."

We walked out of the pub, I kept my head down to avoid unwanted attention and sat inside the car that was waiting for us.

x*x*x*x*x

"I think that was quite a productive day," I sighed in relief dropping into the car.

Martha sat down much more gracefully, humming in agreement. She leaned forward to tell the driver to take us back to the Leaky Cauldron, but I cut her off, "John, take us Clairvoyant Street." **(A/N This is a made-up street.)**

"Ma'am?" Martha asked turning towards me with a questioning expression. "I have some work in the ministry," I said.

She nodded in reply.

Once we had reached the street, I stopped the driver near a narrower diverging street. Martha started unbuckling her seat-belt but I stopped her.

"The meeting is confidential, the other party has asked me to come alone," I said.

She looked hesitant for a second but then nodded understandingly.

I leaned in and whispered to her, "Make sure he doesn't notice." I pointed discreetly towards John, our driver, who was a muggle and wasn't aware of the wizarding world's existence.

"Yes ma'am" she said.

I pulled a pouch out of my bag and then stepped out of the car, heading towards a red telephone booth. I pulled open the door and walked in, shutting the door firmly behind me. Stepping into the booth, I punched 62442 on the dial. A monotonous female voice filled the booth.

'Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business.'

"Elizabeth Brown. Visitor," I spoke calmly.

"Thank you," said the cool female voice, "Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes."

I heard a rattle from the metal chute, and a badge rolled out with a soft clang.

I picked it up turning it in my hands, observing the metal.

"Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."

The booth rumbled and jerkily started descending. I watched as the pavement disappeared out of sight and I was submerged into darkness.

I pulled out my wand, and waved it over myself. All the charms placed on my appearance were removed. Then I waved my wand over my clothes, which warped into a simple black cloak. I looked down to see that my shoes were hidden under the length of the cloak. My brown hair pulled itself into a ponytail. I took off my earrings, chain and watch and tucked it into my pocket where the pouch I had taken out from my bag rested. The pendant still rested under my cloak, out of sight. Finally, I pinned the badge onto my cloak.

In a few seconds I saw a chink of golden light illuminated my feet. Widening, it rose up my body, until it hit me in the face.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," said the woman's voice.

The gates of the booth swung open and I stepped out.

I walked towards the security, handing them my wand for checking.

Once that was done, I wove my way through the witches and wizards clad in formal robes and passed the golden statues, heading towards the elevators. I stepped into the first elevator I reached.

The elevator started moving, stopping at each level so that wizards and witches could come in and out, the robotic female voice announcing the level and its respective departments.

"Level Four, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, incorporating Beast, Being and Spirit Divisions, Goblin Liaison Office, and Pest Advisory Bureau," the voice rang out.

The gate opened with a rumble. Some wizards walked into the elevator, while other stepped out. I was part of the latter.

I walked down the narrow corridor, reading the names residing on plaques on each gate.

Finally, I spotted the door I was looking for. I knocked raptly on it three times.

A high-pitched giggly voice came from inside, "Come in."

I turned the knob on the door and swung open. My first impression was...

Pink

And Cats, loads of them.

"Hem hem," she said, pulling her hand near her face.

"Ms. Umbridge," I nodded.

My second impression was over the woman. Her appearance reminded me of a toad. She held an incredibly smug expression on her face. Her aura was of a spoiled kid. Even though she was sitting and I was standing, I felt like she was looking down at me. She also had that kind of face which you immediately despised, the severely smack-able face.

"Yes?" she asked, folding her hand onto the desk in front of her.

"I'm Elizabeth Brown," I said, "A meeting had been scheduled?"

"Oh," she exclaimed giggling as if she was trying to act like an over-exaggerated middle school girl, "Come in, have a seat. Would you like some tea?"

The way she said it made me irrationally irritated. I sat in front of her desk across from her.

"No," I muttered out, stopping my nose from scrunching up.

"Oh well," she sighed, pouring some tea for herself. As she was dropping sugar cubes into her cup she spoke up, "What did you need dear?"

I did not like her condescending tone but I stopped myself from snapping at her, instead leaning forward in a business-like manner I said, "I have a favour to ask you."

She looked up at this, "And why should I do anything for you?"

I smirked at this and pulled out the pouch from my pocket and dropped it onto the table where it met the wood with a metallic 'thunk'.

She eyed the small pouch with distaste, "That's it?"

I leaned back drumming my finger on the desk in front of me. "Reach inside," I gestured towards the pouch with my other hand.

She hesitantly reached for the pouch. I watched as she put her hand into the cloth. She dug deeper and deeper till her whole arm disappeared into the pouch.

It was an amusing sight.

"Wh- how?" she sputtered out, her eyes widening.

"Undetectable extension charm," I spoke simply, "This is just advanced payment. Do as I say and you'll be further rewarded."

I watched as a greedy glee sparked into the woman's beady little eyes.

How predictable.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked leaning forward excitedly.

Money is such an interesting thing. It was intriguing the effect these little pocket-sized things could have on the most powerful and influential of people.

With just one meeting, I knew I hated this woman. Which was absolutely perfect!

"Well..." I trailed off grinning.

The greedy little toad was going to get a reward for sure.


	15. Dear Mr Pettigrew,

**Short chapter. But important. Sorry if it sounds unrealistic, I'm not really good with formal letters and applications.**

**Reactions of the characters will be in the next chapter which I've already started writing. Think of this as a form of sneak peek.**

**The song for this chapter is 'Obedient Servant' from Hamilton**

* * *

Dear Mr. Pettigrew,

Taking into consideration your past experiences and your track record, the ministry has decided to offer you a position as Assistant Head of Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Ministry of Magic.

You are offered to take up employment from 11 November, Thursday, entailing working hours from 8am to 9pm, weekends off.

The job ranges the small odd jobs like getting the Head of Department's tea and ensuring her necessities, to larger much bulkier jobs like meetings with other Head of Departments and organising the Head of Department's notes and information.

Your starting salary shall be 500 galleons, including health and life insurance benefits. You shall also be provided with your own cabin on Level Four, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, right next to the Head of Department's own cabin, which shall be equipped with the basic necessities and is further open to personalisation.

Kindly send the response via an owl by 7th November.

Looking forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Ms. Dolores Jane Umbridge

Head of Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures

Ministry of Magic

THIS ORDER HAS BEEN APPROVED BY THE MINISTER OF MAGIC


	16. Friends and Enemies

**Hey guys! I had planned on posting another chapter in the present (cause I'm just so excited) but then I realised we need bit of past and of Lisa so here you go.**

**Not a very intriguing chapter but then again, first year for Lisa is fairly uneventful.**

**The song for this chapter is 'Just Like Fire' by P!NK.**

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_Lisa walked towards the greenhouses. The 3rd year Gryffindors and Slytherins were just leaving after finishing their class._

_"Hey midget," Frank said walking towards her. Alice waved at her from beside him bemused._

_"I'm in first year Frank, of course I'm shorter than you," Lisa said irritably, rolling her eyes._

_"Lisa, you're tiny even amongst the firsties," Alice pointed out._

_"I'll get my growth spurt," Lisa said defensively._

_"Sure midget," Frank said, patting her head condescendingly._

_Just a few days after she had become friends with her, Alice had introduced Lisa to her best friend, Frank Longbottom._

_Both the third years had immediately taken the first year into their group as a younger sister figure and Lisa wasn't going to complain about that, especially due to the lack of elder sibling figure she had in her life at the moment._

_"How was herbology?" Lisa asked, changing the subject from her height._

_"Bo- ring," Alice said, breaking the word into two, "Wish I had a free period like you did." Frank nodded in agreement._

_"No, you don't," I said, "I was so bored. Lily had charms, while Severus was in DADA. And you both were in Herbology. I was dying from loneliness."_

_The two Gryffindors shared an amused glance._

_"Lisa," Frank said mockingly, as if he was a concerned parent talking to his child, "You need to make some friends. Of your own age."_

_Lisa opened her mouth to respond but no sound came out. To be honest she agreed with Frank. She did need some friends in her year._

_"I'm going to class," she said instead with a huff, turning on her heel and walking off._

_She heard her friends chuckling behind her._

_Just as she was reaching the doors of the greenhouse 1, somebody stepped in front of her, blocking her way._

_Her eyes met a pair of icy blue eyes and blonde hair._

_There stood in front of her Jack Bulstrode. Behind him were Barty Crouch Jr with his obsidian eyes and equally dark choppy hair, Makinson Fawley with russet eyes and short curly dark brown hair and Janice Parkinson with one blue and one brown eye and shoulder-length brown eyes._

_"Well well well," Bulstrode said smirking, "If it isn't the traitor Slytherin."_

_The other Slytherins grinned at this._

_Lisa raised an eyebrow at them, "What are you smiling for dungbrains, that wasn't even a joke?"_

_The Slytherins ignored her comment, Fawley even rolling his eyes, and walked towards her, making her take a step back._

_"Hanging out with Gryffindor blood traitors," Bulstrode said, eyeing the retreating figures of Alice and Frank, "And here I was thinking you could sink no lower." He eyed Lisa as if she was some disgusting worm._

_"Beats hanging out with you lot," Lisa snapped._

_"You've got a big mouth Potter," Parkinson said sneering._

_"Nah," Lisa said shrugging, "Just an ability to point out the obvious to you oblivious souls."_

_"I'll tell you what's obvious," Crouch finally spoke up putting a finger on his chin as if he were deep in thought, "It is stupid to insult the people who know where you sleep." Lisa scoffed, trying to hide the slight nervousness that had been ignited in her from Crouch's words._

_"You aren't the brightest, are you?" Crouch continued sneering, "Disgraceful, for someone from the house of the cunning. Then again," he smirked, "You should know all about disgrace. Tell me, how disappointed were your parents when they realised how much of a snake you are? The Gryffindor Potter seemed pretty pissed."_

_Lisa tried to keep her anger off her face. There was NO need to bring her family into this._

_"As disappointed as your dad will be when he finds out the company you keep," she gestured towards his friends with disdain, "kids of potential death eaters." She stepped forward, trying to stare Crouch down, which was a feat in itself seeing as the the third year was at least a foot taller than her, "You tell me Crouch, what's it like knowing you will never live up to your dad's legacy?"_

_Crouch's face twisted into a scowl, "Don't you-"_

_"Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones," she said jeeringly, cutting him off. Then she turned towards the other Slytherins and mockingly told them, "And you all should work on your 'bully persona'," she used air quotes around the word 'bully persona', "Not intimidating in the least. On the contrary you sound like bunch of choking banshees," she looked them up and down in the same way Bulstrode had done a few moments ago, "Or at least come up with better insults."_

_She turned on her heels dramatically, her robes billowing around her and walked into the greenhouse with her head held high, not giving them time to respond._

_She tried to play it off as cool but inside she was fuming._

_She looked for an empty spot on the table. It was clear to see the distinction between the first year Slytherins and Ravenclaws, who they were sharing a class with. Each of the house stood took one side of the long table. There was no intermingling._

_By unspoken social norm, she should have stood with her fellow Slytherins and she would have in other circumstances, but the incident outside had irritated her. No way was she standing with the Slytherins. For all she knew, she might end up snapping at some innocent bystander._

_So, she headed towards the table and walked past the Slytherin side of the table, ignoring the looks she was getting, to stand at the Ravenclaw side of the table between a boy with short bleach-blonde hair and blue eyes and a girl with sandy blonde hair and silvery-blue-grey eyes._

_Professor Sprout silenced the gossiping students and then proceeded to give us a lesson on Dittany. She then proceeded to ask them to separate into groups of three and tend to the plants._

_Lisa looked around helplessly. Who was she supposed to work with?_

_She felt a tap on her shoulder._

_"Wanna work with us? We're down one person," the girl who had been standing beside her said. The guy who had been standing on the other side of her was standing with the girl, his eyes wandering around._

_Lisa gave her a grateful smile. "Sure," she breathed out._

_They headed towards a table with a dittany plant._

_"I'm Pandora Allen," the girl said brightly, extending a hand. She then gestures towards her friend, "And this is Xenophilius Lovegood."_

_I shook her hand, "Lisa Potter."_

_Lisa then turned towards the boy and extended her hand._

_His eyes stopped scanning the room and fell on her. "You have wrackspurts in your hair," he blurted out._

_"What?" she asked retracting her hand and self-consciously running it through her hair looking for something that might have gotten stuck in it._

_"Wrackspurts. They're invisible little creatures. They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy," he said, then he flushed red as if just realising what he had said. "A- I mean. Er- you didn't need to know that," he hung his head._

_"No need to apologise Xeno," Pandora chided him, "We're all different. You wouldn't remember Alice in Wonderland if it wasn't wonder-ous." She finished as if this brought the discussion to an end._

_What in the world was alice in wonderland?_

_She shook of the confusion and hesitantly said, "Yeah. I wasn't going to be judgemental. Confused, sure, but not judgemental."_

_Pandora smiled appreciatively at her, "You're nice. Don't know why people are glaring at you." Lisa turned around to see that many people were in fact glaring at her, mostly Slytherins, who adorned looks of betrayal as if she had thrown them into a cage of chimeras._

_"Maybe they don't like the way we are handling the dittany," Pandora said frowning slightly looking down at the poor plant which was drooping due to the lack of water._

_Xenophilius chuckled, shaking his head. Lisa sent him a confused look, he just mouthed 'naive' and left it at that._

_It seemed to explain everything and yet nothing at the same time._

_They both turned to each other and started talking about potions and creatures that she hadn't ever heard off before._

_The two were an unusual pair and it was clear that they shared a bond. Lisa felt like an outsider among them and yet for some reason, that didn't seem to faze her. She felt a weird sense of calm with these two. As if she could kill someone and still laugh it off._

_Ok, that was a weird example._

_Her brain drifted into the clouds as she mindlessly worked on the dittany plant._

_She wondered if she could convince her parents to buy her a Cleansweep 205 for year or maybe a Nimbus 10. It wasn't as good as the Cleansweep, but it could work. Would she even try out for the team? Who was she kidding, of course she was gonna try out! She LOVED quidditch. She would love to be a chaser or a seeker. She wasn't sure which one yet._

_She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Pandora say, "Those feys then picked up my aunt's bag and threw it out of the window-"_

_"I'm sorry, feys?" Lisa asked interrupting Pandora's story._

_"Yeah feys," Pandora said, "They are like a mix between fairies and pixies. Extremely mischievous. The one my aunt saw was a sun fey."_

_Lisa thought about that. Incendies hadn't come out to prank in a while, and those four third year Slytherins needed to be taught a lesson._

_"Can someone find feys on Hogwarts ground?" she asked the other two innocently. Her eyes on the plant while her attention remained on her Ravenclaw companions._

_"I'm not sure, I think there might be some in the Forbidden Forest," Pandora said shrugging._

_"I think I saw a lake fey near the harbour," Xenophilius said._

_"Oh thanks," Lisa said nonchalantly._

_Xenophilius and Pandora turned back to their conversation._

* * *

**_You guys should check out this '_WHY IS YOUR GENERATION THE WAY THAT IT IS?' by Kira Kosarin. And you don't have to be 17 to 25 as she mentioned in the song. I'm 16 and I totally relate. In fact, any teen from our gen can probably relate too.**

**Plus, we're all bored in quarantine anyways.**


	17. Liar

**You might be wondering why I chose Phobus as Peter's middle name. One, because I thought it would be funny if Peter's initials were PPP and two, because the name Phobus means phobia or fear, ironic name for him right. Even more funny is the fact that this is apparently a pretty common name. There are people out there who think its ok to name them child something that means fear.**

**Also check out ashy-faced and black barn owls, they are so beautiful! I just recently discovered them.**

**This part of the revenge may be predictable for many people but it will get better as she goes up the 'revenge list'.**

**Song for this chapter is 'Bad Liar' by Imagine Dragons.**

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Peter's POV

As I was laying down on my bed an owl flew in through the window.

I sat up. The unacquainted ashy-faced barn owl landed on my shoulder.

My eyes widened as I saw the official MoM tag on it.

Immediately I untied the letter from the owl's foot, who then flew off into the night sky.

Why is the Ministry contacting me?

Were they taking me off duty? Was it because I was a Level 1 auror? Did they realise how useless I was in comparison to Sirius and James?

Or worse, did Mica complain about me? Did she not find me useful? Was she sick of me already? Did she find me creepy? Was it all the staring?

It must have been the staring.

Hastily I ripped the letter open.

My eyes scanned over the content of the letter.

I'm pretty sure my heart seized at one point of time. I couldn't stop the grin from spreading over my face.

This was perfect! I couldn't believe my fortune.

The position, salary, facilities, power, influence... and most importantly, the respect. I would get so much from this job. One letter, that's all it took, with that I would get all I had ever wanted.

'Mr. Peter Phobus Pettigrew, Assistant Head of Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Ministry of Magic, Assistant of Ms. Dolores Jane Umbridge.'

It had a nice ring to it.

Then my heart faltered.

My eyes widened as they concentrated on three words,

Dolores Jane Umbridge .

That was the woman who had formed the 'Anti-Werewolf Legislation'. The one who Lily was fighting against.

If I accepted...

I shuddered thinking of what my friends' reaction would be.

But I couldn't just let this opportunity go. It is too precious. Too important.

I don't know what to do.

I let the letter slip from my hands and fall on the bed as I paced my room, running a hand through my hair. I only had till tomorrow to answer.

"Peter!" a voice exclaimed, banging the door open.

I jumped about a foot in the air with a yelp. I whipped my head towards the door, a hand over my heart trying to calm it down.

Sirius laughed leaning a hand against the door frame.

"Jumpy much Wormtail," he asked.

I chuckled nervously, moving in front of the letter to hide it from his view.

Thankfully, he didn't notice.

"Yeah," I muttered out.

"Come on out, it's time for dinner," he said, swinging out the door before I could reply.

"Coming," I called out.

I glanced over my shoulder at the letter once, before I walked out of the room. James was standing there bent forward, poking a portrait of a grumpy old wizard who was shouting curses at him at the moment. Remus was shaking his head at James' antics.

"Hey boys," came a soft voice. I looked in the direction from which the voice came.

As always, Mica looked beautiful. Even when she dressed 'casually' she looked like she was about to walk down a ramp.

Sirius nudged me in the side. I looked at him. He looked pointedly at Mica and then back at me.

'What,' I mouthed, hoping that she wasn't watching.

He rolled his eyes and then mouthed back, 'Talk to her'.

My eyes widened.

Talk.

How was I supposed to talk to her? More importantly, what was I supposed to talk to her about?

I looked between Sirius and Mica.

James and Remus seemed to be distracting her currently, occasionally looking in our direction.

I racked my brain for something to say, anxiety creeping into every cell of my body.

"You're back!" I blurted out.

She turned towards me slowly. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Sirius' hand twitch as if he wanted to facepalm. James gave me an 'are-you-serious' look, Remus just looked at me with pity.

"Um- from your recording," I added looking down.

"Obviously," Mica replied giggling.

I felt my cheeks flush. She walked past me giving Sirius enough time to desperately mouth to me, 'Why?' before she turned around and asked us, "Aren't you all coming?"

"Yeah," James said as we followed her.

Sirius nudged me again and leaned in, whispering, "Talk to her!"

"About what?" I exclaimed.

"Anything," he muttered, "Make small talk."

Then he shoved me forward. I stumbled my way over to Mica's side.

She looked at me bemused.

"Hi Peter," she said chuckling.

"Hey," I breathed out. Again, I racked my brain for something to say, this time making sure I didn't say something stupid. "You look nice," I finally spoke.

She looked down at her outfit, which consisted of a tight black dress with a jean jacket over it and black boots, taken back "Thanks Pete."

My heart stopped.

"Pete?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said. Then she looked down at me worried, "It's okay if I call you that, right?"

Okay? It was perfect! Much better than Wormtail!

Of course I didn't say that.

"Yes."

"Great," she said with a grin.

I looked down, a small smile on my face.

She looked over her shoulders at the guys who not-so-discreetly looked away, as if they hadn't been staring at us with wide grins the whole time.

"Why are they staring at us?" she asked me.

"Um- uh," I started, trying to think up a response, "You see- it's like this-"

"Wait a sec," she said, I could practically see the light bulb glowing over her head, "I know what's happening here!"

She leaned in close to my face. My heart beat faster.

"It's the crush, isn't it Pete," she whispered with a grin.

"Wh-what," I spluttered out, "N-no, I mean yes- I mean- er..."

She knows! I can't believe it, she knows! And she's not running away! She doesn't look uncomfortable either. That must be a good sign, right?

"How did you figure out?" I said, finally regaining my wits.

"Come on, you all are so pathetic at acting," she said, rolling her eyes, "I'm not oblivious."

I forced the happiness in my chest to subdue a bit, I shouldn't get my hopes up. "So, would you- er- would you want to go out..." I trailed off nervously, fully expecting her to say no.

"Of course, dummy," she said laughing.

I looked up, "Really?!"

She laughed again, "Yup! For Morgana's sake, tell him I said yes."

Yes! She said yes. SHE SAID YES! She said 'tell him I said...

...Wait a sec.

"Tell- him?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, "Tell Sirius I said yes."

I felt the hope that had filled my chest, fizzle out as if it was a faulty firecracker.

"Sirius?"

She smiled, "Duh. You told him about the crush I had on him, right? And he sent you here as his wingman. To ask me on a date?"

Sirius.

It wasn't me, of course it wasn't. It was Sirius.

Why would she like me? Why would she ever accept going out with me, ever say-

"Yes."

"Great!" she exclaimed, "Tell him I said yes."

"Wh-" I said, not noticing that I had spoken out loud, "No. I meant to say no. He wasn't asking you out. They wanted me to ask you if we could accompany you to our next recording. Cause it would be... fun- to watch."

"Oh," she said, a disappointed look coming over her face, "I'll check with the record."

We arrived at the Great Hall, and I slowly fell back not wanting her to see my reaction.

I felt a hand swing over my shoulder, and I masked my face from the sorrow I felt.

"Sooo," Sirius said with a smirk, drawing out the 'so', "How did it go?"

"I think it went pretty well, aye Wormtail," James said continuing with the teasing, "You two looked pretty cosy."

"Okay guys, leave him alone," Remus said, pushing the two boys away from me, "He doesn't need you all to be overbearing."

"But-"

"Oh, come on-"

"Moony- Wormtail's got a crush-"

"This is a once in a lifetime chance-"

"No."

"Mooooony..."

"You've become such a spoil sport."

"And after just two years as professor."

"That's insulting to the years we've dedicated to corrupt you."

"To being the best bad influence in the world."

"Bloody hell, shut it you two."

"Thank Merlin! He still swears."

"He's not a complete lost cause."

I zoned out of the three boy's conversation.

The dinner that day seemed to pass in a blur. Before I knew it, we were returning back to our rooms.

The guys tried to force some more conversations between Mica and I but it was predominantly meaningless, my heart just wasn't into it.

I waved to Mica and the smirking boys a good bye and walked into my room.

The letter rested on the bed untouched.

Fury surged through me. Why should I care about my so-called friends? Why should I care about what they thought of me? I've gotten a great opportunity. I will use it.

I moved towards a desk with long aggressive strides and grabbed a spare parchment and a quill.

I sat down on the chair and poised my hand over the parchment, ready to form a reply.

I froze.

How would they react though?

Remus would just be hurt. I could handle that.

But James and Sirius would be furious.

And Lily- oh Merlin! Lily would be bloody pissed!

What would they do when they find out? An angry Gryffindor was an unpredictable Gryffindor. There was no saying how they would react.

Was I willing to risk that? Was I willing to risk them finding out?

I stared at the parchment.

I couldn't just let this opportunity slip away though.

Dear Ms. Umbridge,

I accept your offer. Looking forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Mr. Peter Phobus Pettigrew

Was I, willing to risk them finding out?

No.

Not yet at least.

I rolled up the letter and headed out from my room towards the Owlery.

I'll just have to make sure they don't find out.


	18. Light Feys

**I have a drawing on the light fey on my tumblr art account, whose link is in my account description.**

**Hello everyone! How you all doing in quarantine? Me, I'm bored af. I'm so bored that I could beat those bored animal memes on the internet. How? I don't know. I'm just rambling on whatever sounds good.**

**Also, who else has APs coming? Cause I'm dying of studying! I have Physics, Chemistry and Computer Science A. And I'm self-studying for these. It sucks!**

**Sorry for the delay, I had a bit of a writer's block and whenever I could never sit and write for too long because I had to study. But I'm back people.**

**Anyways let's get back to work. New chapter up!**

**Song for this chapter is 'Crazy = Genius' by Panic! At the Disco.**

* * *

At first, I wasn't sure whether Peter would tell his friends about his new job or not.

I suppose I should have known that he wouldn't as he was such a coward, but I was curious.

Umbridge had owled me the other day, informing me of how Peter had taken up the job, so I had toned down the manipulation a bit, instead watching.

It was intriguing seeing how Peter lied to the Marauders, how he easily threw away all his 'morals' for the sake of a bit of money and power, how he would sometimes fidget nervously and how the other Marauders wouldn't ever notice.

It was interesting to see everyone's actions and reaction to this situation, most of them not even knowing what the situation was.

Like a psychological experiment.

A chaotic group of voices caught my attention.

It was the coming from the group of Slytherins exiting the Charm's classroom.

I recalled a memory.

_Lisa quietly opened the doors of the Charms classroom, groaning as the sack she was holding shuddered jerkily._

_She peeked through the crack in the door to make sure she was in the right class. Surely enough, she spotted the group of 3rd year Slytherins and Ravenclaws in the classroom._

_They seemed to be practising 'Lumos Maxima'. Ironic, considering what was about to happen._

_She nudged the door open further, just enough that she could poke an arm in and bit her lip in concentration._

_She brought her arm back and then using the momentum swung it forward through the opening of the door and released the sack._

_The sack landed with a thud inside the Charms classroom, attracting its inhabitants' attention._

_Flitwick squeaked in surprise while the students stilled in their work._

_He moved forward towards the sack._

_It started buzzing._

_Lisa grinned as she saw the third-year Ravenclaws and Slytherins peer over their desks to look at the sack whose buzzing was increasing by the minute._

_She edged forward herself as Flitwick approached the sack. _  
_The opening of the sack shifted._

_Little buzzing creatures flew out of the sack, their faces mirroring Lisa's own mischievous grins._

_They were off-white, with hues of blue and pink on them. Their wings were translucent silver in colour, and their hands and legs ended in clawed paws. They had elf-like ears, a long-pointed nose and wide midnight-blue eyes. Their long, straight, open light blue hair flowed behind them._

_What was most amazing about them was the little bulges they had on their backs which glowed like one of those muggle bulbs, giving them their names-_

_Light Feys._

_At first, she heard some people sigh and squeal about their beauty. These soon turned into exclamation of horror as the dainty feys started flying all about._

_All hell broke loose._

_The first thing they did was grab Professor Flitwick's wand and throw it out of the window. _

_Then they flew about. Throwing books off the table, ripping pages, upsetting ink bottles, pulling on student's hairs and cloaks, throwing the wizarding hats about like a frisbee._

_One of the clever little bastards had somehow gotten his hands on a pair of scissors and was gleefully gliding around snipping at people's robes._

_Most amusing were the feys who had gotten their hands on the wands. They waved it about, laughing maniacally, emitting loud explosions and puffs of smoke._

_Lisa's laughter was muffled by the sound of the student's screams, half of whom were swatting the feys away with books while the remaining were taking cover under their desks._

_She had gone looking for the feys near the lake's harbour, as Xenophilius had suggested, only to be disappointed for there was nothing over there except for seaweed and the occasional fishes. That part of the lake was so shallow that not even Grindylows could be spotted there._

_Then taking Pandora's advice, she headed towards the Forbidden Forest. She wasn't an idiot, she didn't venture too far into the forest with her rudimentary skills in magic, just the edges. _

_She had searched there for more than hour and was giving up hope when she came across a colony of Bowtruckles. _

_She acquired some woodlice, which she had come across before, to feed them and they then happily told her of the existence of these Light Feys among a clump of Scots Pines._

_Catching the feys had been the hardest part of her trip._

_She remembered having cursed her lack of foresight. She should have learned the summoning charm before coming. All she could do was conjure a sack from a patch of trees and then chase after the feys trying to catch them. _

_Let's just say that was not an experience she wanted to revisit._

_Professor Flitwick had finally managed to summon his wand. He pointed it upwards and screamed loudly, "IMMOBULUS!"_

_The chaos stopped. The feys now dawned looks of shock as they floated through the air. Their motion down so much that a slug could have won in a race against them._

_Flitwick waved his wand again, and the feys all shot forward, heading straight towards the sack that still lay motionless on the ground. Once each of the fey had entered the sack, Flitwick waved his wand again, conjuring a rope which tied itself around the mouth of the sack._

_Lisa took in the aftermath of the whole fiasco._

_The room looked like it had been holding a tornado in it. Portraits on the walls had been upset, books and parchments littered the floor, ink splattered all over them, quills were ripped and even a table had been upset, which shocked her as she hadn't realised those little Feys had enough strength to do that._

_Flitwick's hair was sticking up in one direction and his robes were a crumpled mess. _

_The students' states ranged from just-rolled-out-of-bed dishevelled to been-in-a-duel-with-a-powerful-wizard dishevelled._

_She might have felt bad if she didn't know that all this would be fixed by Flitwick._

_The most amusing was the state of four particular Slytherins._

_Jack Bulstrode seemed to have a whole bottle of ink upset on him, the liquid pouring down his face. Janice Parkinson had her eyebrow burned off; her face covered with soot. Makinson Fawley had fainted, and Barty Crouch Jr had apparently gotten attacked by the scissor-holding Fey, for his robes were in shreds and even had a whole arm-sleeve missing._

_Lisa's eyes widened as she saw Professor Flitwick marching in the direction of the door._

_He billowed. "Who's there?" which sounded funny in his high-pitched voice._

_She hastily pulled out her wand and muttered, "Colos Verbo," before she rushed off, pressing her lips together to prevent her chuckles from exiting her mouth, leaving the word 'Incendies' hovering over the Charms classroom._

"What are you smiling about?" asked James.

"Huh-" I said, breaking out of my reverie, "Oh- nothing. Just recalled something funny."

"Okay," James said nodding.

My eyes fell on Peter.

"By the way boys, I forgot to tell you all. I have some business to attend to from 11th. I will be leaving Hogwarts so you all have a few days off. I'll return a day before the first task."

"Sweet," Sirius muttered grinning so happily that I was sure his face would split from the grin.

The only person who could rival his happiness was Peter. He looked like Christmas and his birthday had come early, and would last for a whole month.

You see, 11th is Peter's first day of his new job. I knew he wouldn't have the foresight to think of a reason as to why he was going to the Ministry especially as he supposed to be with me at all times, so I offered it to him on a silver platter.

How fortunate that Mica was to leave Hogwarts for a while on the exact day that Peter had to leave for his job?

Too fortunate.

"Thank god," James groaned, "I haven't seen Lily in ages!"

Remus rolled his eyes, "It's been a week James."

"Moony do you hear yourself?" James exclaimed, "A WEEK!"

"Shut it drama-queen," Sirius said.

"Oh, look who's talking," James fired back.

"The person whom you've corrupted into your ways of dramatization," Sirius said pointing accusingly at James.

Remus sighed, "I shouldn't have said anything."

I chuckled at their conversation.

My eyes fell on Peter who wasn't paying attention to the conversation around him, rather he was looking down.

Tying, and failing, to hide his smile.


	19. First Day

**Sorry for updating so late. But here we go, short chapter I know, I know but it's really hard to write chapters with online classes and APs and stuff.**

**Plus, I've started some other projects to work on. Including a comic and stuff.**

**I still can't promise any frequent updates. One of my online exams had a technical issue and I have to redo it (and its Physics so duh).**

**Song for this chapter is 'Happy' from Pharrel Williams.**

* * *

Peter's POV

"See ya boys later," Mica said, stepping into the floo which swallowed her up in green flames.

Martha hurried followed suit.

Once the two had left, the bricks of the wall shifted and closed, sealing the floo out of reach.

"Merlin," James said, "I was hoping we could just walk out from here."

"You don't even have your bags with you Prongs," Remus said, fondly rolling his eyes.

"I could summon it Moony," James mocked in the same tone. He then turned towards Sirius, "You sure you don't wanna come? Lily and I would love to have you with us."

"And risk being the third wheel," Sirius said scoffing, "No thanks."

"To be fair," Remus said smirking, "I'm pretty sure Lily would be the third wheel."

"Even worse then," Sirius exclaimed throwing his arms up, "No one want to suffer the wrath of Mrs. Potter."

I joined the laughter that came after with a chuckle that sounded more nervous than amused, imagining how Lily would react if she found out what I was doing.

"Well, I better be off then," James muttered heading towards the door. I nodded along.

We went to our rooms collecting our bags and then headed to Dumbledore's office. James stepped into the floo, disappearing in a wave of green flames. Once that had calmed down, I stepped into the floo. Throwing the powder into the fireplace I proclaimed my house address and felt myself be sucked into a twister.

For some reason the floo never seemed to trouble me, even when I was younger. I never experienced the nauseating feeling or the hands slapping feeling that people described. It was like being in one of those Water Park slides, just this one was rotating.

I stepped out as the fire started to die down.

I didn't bother taking in my apartment. I threw my luggage on the couch and rushed to my closet, pulling out a black formal cloak and changing into it. Then I twisted on the spot.

I appeared with a crack. The first thing that caught my eye was the massive golden statue that stood in the middle of the atrium. I walked forward, dodging the crowds of ministry workers.

I headed towards the elevators, exiting on Level 4 from where I walked towards the area in which I knew Umbridge's office was.

I approached the course wooden door, complemented by the silver plaque engraved with my new boss' name and designation.

I raised my fist poised in a fist, ready to knock and then paused.

I took in a deep breath.

This was it. This was the moment from when everything would change.

I knocked.

Three times.

The voice seemed to reverberate through the halls.

"Come in," came a soft, girlish voice.

I pushed the door open.

"M-ma'am," I winced internally. Now her first impression of me would be of a stuttering idiot.

"Good morning," I said, this time more adding more confidence in my voice.

Or at least I hoped I sounded confident.

She folded her hands in front of her on her desk. She smiled, an insincere smile, raising an eyebrow, "Yes?"

Did she not know who I was?

"I'm Peter Pettigrew, Ms. Umbridge," I said. Her eyes widened in realisation.

"Oh," she giggled, "No need to call me that."

I almost rolled my eyes. That was such a cliché line. No way was I calling her Dolores.

"Call me Head of Department," she said.

I looked at her taken aback.

"Or head or just boss..." she said, as if mulling the thought over in her head.

"Yes. Boss will do," she said with finality.

"Ok," I said wondering if it was too late to quit, "Boss."

She stood up then, the cats in the picture behind her letting out various sounds at the movement, "Let me show you to your cabin."

Cabin. On second thoughts, this may not be so bad after all.

She led me outside and to the door on her cabin's left.

On it, on a silver plaque were the words-

Peter Pettigrew

Assistant Head of Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures

I felt my chest puff out with pride.

I felt like I belonged. Like I had a purpose in life, a goal.

Like I was worth something.

She pushed the door open and stepped in, gesturing for me to follow.

My jaw dropped.

Used to working in a small room shared with over 50 Level 1 aurors, this cabin was a massive step up. It was only slightly smaller than Umbridge's own cabin. A mahogany desk sat in the middle, a black swivel chair behind it. Brown cabinets were embedded into the wall on one side and a metal cupboard sat on the other side.

"You are free to customise," Umbridge said looking around. She then giggled, "Though I would advise you not to. Rumour has it that the minister is promoting me to post of his Senior Undersecretary by next month," she looked at me, grinning like a small child who had just received her favourite candy, "We'll have to move rooms then."

She moved towards a far corner of the room and pointed to a small box which I had missed when I first entered the room. "I'll communicate through this whenever I want something," she said, "If you want to communicate just use the spell Conlocutio on the box. There is a box in my room which will transfer any of your messages. You probably noticed it. Looked similar to this one."

She turned to me with a sweet smile. Though she had said it like a statement, the way she looked at me made it seem like a question.

Did you notice it?

"Er..." I replied.

It was the only sound I could produce at the moment., knowing I hadn't noticed it.

I turned red, embarrassed by the impression I was making upon my new boss.

"Oh," she exclaimed, "Not the most observant, are you?"

She said it as if it was a joke, but there was a flash of disappointment in her eyes.

I felt nervousness fill my head. She must know what a failure I was now!

"Oh well, you'll learn," the stout woman said turning towards the door, brushing the incident off.

I let out a breath of relief. She didn't seem to mind.

She walked towards the door and stopped at the door frame, turning to face me.

"For today, at 10 I'll need you to bring me a report from the Animagus Registry Committee. I'll have some paper work done by 3, deliver it to the Minister's assistant and at 7 I'll need you to send Auror Bensid to my room. Lunch break is from 1 to 2." With that she turned around to leave.

I looked at her confused. Surely, that wasn't all I had to do today.

"That's it?" I asked, my brow furrowing.

She turned around smiling.

"Why? Do you want more work?" she asked as if talking to a baby.

Immediately I shook my head, flushing red.

I was never one for impulsively speaking. Scratch that, I was never one for speaking in general.

But this was what I was being payed 500 galleons for? I did more work as an intern! Could life get any better?

"Now that I think about it," she said, "There was one job."

I felt my happiness die down.

I cursed myself internally. This had to be the one time I couldn't keep my mouth shut!

"Yes boss?" I asked.

"My stamp was running out of ink," she said without looking back, "Send an intern or a junior to fetch some for me dear."

With that she walked out, closing the door softly behind her.

An elated grin crossed my face.

I jumped, whooping loudly. "YES! Yes, yes, Yes! Yes..." I stated repetitively doing a weird, happy dance. If somebody walked in on me, they would surely think I was having a seizure.

After a few moments of acting like a complete idiot, I felt myself calm and plopped down upon the chair, which true to its name, swivelled lightly due to the force.

I laid back getting comfortable, my hands resting behind my head, my feet propped upon the desk.

"I could get used to this."

I sat there praying to god that the rest of my career passed just like this. No worries. No stress. Just luxury and comfort!

Reminding myself of the job my boss had handed me, I got up to look for some intern who I could boss around.

How great that will be!

I walked out of MY cabin with a slight skip in my step.

Unaware of the letter that my boss was writing at the moment.

* * *

**Ok that was fun!**

**Conlocutio - Enchants an object to act as a means of communication.**


	20. Questions

**Chapter out! Chapter out!**

**Also, I noticed I crossed 10 followers/favorites!**

**Thank you so so so much. So, I decided to be a good author, and make time to write this down. Unfortunately, it's more of a filler. But this is how I planned the chapter to be, and anything else would have been weird, so I decided to stick with.**

**I'm curious. Who else plays Hogwarts a Mystery? Cause I feel like a large part of the fandom has slept on this game. At first, I was irritated by it too, with the energy requirements and stuff, but now as the story progresses, I've really started to love the game. Who's your favourite character in the game? I'm in 2nd year, and for now my favourite is either Merula or Chiara.**

* * *

I wonder how Peter was planning on hiding his job from his friends.

For now, it was easy. He was away from his friends; he didn't have to return to Hogwarts and he lived alone.

But what about when the week ended.

The other marauders would return to Hogwarts for their jobs, and they would expect him to return as well. What would he do then? Stay at his job, or come here. If he comes, then how? By quitting his job? Or taking a leave- for a year?

I almost chuckled out loud.

"Hey," someone snapped their fingers in front of my face, breaking me out from my reverie.

"Oh h-" I mumbled, I looked up to see my music producer, Kevin Brough, standing in front of me, "Hey- what is it?"

"We're ready to record the vocals," he said.

I nodded in response and got up into the recording booth. Glass separated me from Kevin and his various devices. I put on my headphones and waited for the music to start.

**(A/N The song is 'Heart Attack' by Demi Lovato)**

(My pre-recorded voice came, edited by my producer)

Puttin' my defences up  
'Cause I don't wanna fall in love  
If I ever did that, I think I'd have a heart attack

(I start singing)

Never put my love out on the line  
Never said yes to the right guy  
Never had trouble getting what I want  
But when it comes to you, I'm never good enough

(I close my eyes as the song continues)

When I don't care, I can play 'em like a Ken doll  
Won't wash my hair, then make 'em bounce like a basketball

But you make me wanna act like a girl  
Paint my nails and wear high heels, yes you  
Make me so nervous, that I just can't hold your hand

(I open my eyes)

You make me glow,  
But I cover up, won't let it show,  
So I'm puttin' my defences up  
'Cause I don't wanna fall in love  
If I ever did that,   
I think I'd have a heart attack  
I think I'd have a heart attack  
I think I'd have a heart attack

(I take a breath as the high notes stop)

Never break a sweat for the other guys  
When you come around, I get paralysed  
And every time I try to be myself  
It comes out wrong like a cry for help  
It's just not fair  
Pain's more trouble than love is worth  
I gasp for air  
It feels so good, but you know it hurts

(My foot taps the floor rhythmically)

But you make me wanna act like a girl  
Paint my nails and wear perfume, for you,  
Make me so nervous, that I just can't hold your hand

You make me glow,  
But I cover up, won't let it show,  
So I'm puttin' my defences up  
'Cause I don't wanna fall in love  
If I ever did that, I think I'd have a heart attack  
I think I'd have a heart attack  
I think I'd have a heart attack

(I sing along with my pre-recorded harmonies)

The feelings got lost in my lungs  
They're burning, I'd rather be numb  
And there's no one else to blame  
So scared I take off and I run  
I'm flying too close to the sun

(I paused letting the recording take over)  
And I burst into flames

(I sing the high note)  
Flames

(I close my eyes again as the music softens)

You make me glow,  
But I cover up, won't let it show,  
So I'm puttin' my defences up  
'Cause I don't wanna fall in love

(I sing the overlapped parts with the chorus I had recorded)

If I ever did that, I think I'd have a heart attack  
I think I'd have a heart attack (heart attack)  
I think I'd have a heart attack  
Oh I think I'd have a heart attack

I think I'd have a heart attack

The music dies down, I look up towards Kevin he gives me a thumbs up and gestures for me to come out.

I grin and walk out.

He plays the recording to me and we listen for any errors.

"This is great," he says in between the song, "I'll edit this a bit and we'll record some harmonies for the chorus. Then it's done!"

"We'll be finished by tomorrow right?" I asked, bobbing my head to the music.

"Yeah, we should be," he said, not really looking up from his computer.

"Cool," I say.

Tomorrow I'd be heading back to Hogwarts.

_"Hey Lils!" I exclaimed._

_Lily turned around. A smile graced her face when she saw me, "Hi Lisa!"_

_The two Gryffindor girls near her, rolled their eyes, almost in eerie synchrony. I think their names were Marlene McKinnon and Mary McDonald, both 2nd years._

_"I need your help_," _I said, ignoring the two girls beside Lily. They weren't rude, just unfriendly towards all Slytherins in general. As long as they didn't trouble me, I didn't mind them, "Slughorn assigned us a 3 feet essay on Sleeping Draught and I've barely written 2 feet. It's due Thursday!"_

_"Why didn't you ask Sev?" she said._

_"He has charms homework so he can't help," I shrugged, "And you're waaay better at Potions." I dragged the word 'way' dramatically._

_Lily laughed, "Sure, I'll meet you up tomorrow, I have a free period at 5."_

_I beamed at her, "Thanks Lils, you're a life-saver!" I hugged her real tight and then got ready to off._

_"Oh Lisa!" Lily called out. I turned around looking at her questioningly._

_"Are you staying for Christmas?" she asked._

_"No, I'm going back," I said, "Why?"_

_"Sev was staying back," she said sadly._

_"It's fine Lils," I said putting a hand on her arm consolingly, "He has plenty of friends in Slytherin, I'm sure some of them must be staying back."_

_That was true. Though Severus was not the most popular, due to his blood status and the fact that his best friend is a muggleborn, he had much better luck at making friends in our house than I did. _

_To be fair, that was my own doing._

_"I hope so," she said._

_I opened my mouth to say something else but was cut off by Marlene, "Lily we're gonna be late for charms."_

_"Yeah coming," Lily said, she waved good bye to me and walked off with her friends._

_I walked towards DADA at a leisurely pace still having 5 mins to spare. Thankfully it was with Hufflepuffs. They were the least hostile towards Slytherins, obviously with the few exceptions, and didn't mind that much if I sat with them. _

_Unlike the Gryffindors, who whispered amongst themselves as if I had kicked a Crup and not just sat in their general vicinity._

_Speaking of whispers._

_The prank had gone off wonderfully. Even after a month people were talking about it._

_Maybe it was because of the mystery of who Incendies was, or because Parkinson's eyebrows had still not grown back properly._

_I had been regretting keeping Incendies a secret but now I could see that it had its own perks._

_I went into the DADA room. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of the subject. _

_Ok, that would be false. I wasn't a fan of the teacher, Ms. Bimble._

_In our first week, she had been teaching us about jinxes and she mentioned something about jinxes being a minor form of dark magic, as dark magic could be classified as anything that can be used to harm a being in any form or manner._

_I asked her a pretty simple question. Why isn't all magic be classified as dark then? I mean, I could take a simple Lumos Maxima and bring it up to your face and that would cause your eyes some damage, right?_

_So, am I not technically harming you?_

_Honestly even a 'You're too young to understand' excuse would have been better than deducting 10 house points, scolding me for half an hour straight for interrupting her and instructing the class to write a four feet essay on jinxes which, if you didn't catch on, was EXACTLY what she did!_

_I received glares from everyone, even the nice Hufflepuffs, for two days straight, till somebody else asked her a question and she responded in a similar manner._

_And she still hasn't decided to remove the stick up her ass._

_No wonder she isn't married yet._

_It wasn't even that hard a question to answer. I asked Sev and her told me the answer straight away. Dark spells are made with the intent to do the harm. Other charms may have mal-repercussions like Lumos, but as long as that was not what they were originally made to do it doesn't count._

_Was that so hard to explain?_

_I had half a mind of cursing the woman into the next century and blaming it all on Incendies. But seeing as she would be probably be out of the school by the end of the year, I didn't bother._

_I walked into the room and sat on the seat beside a sweet Hufflepuff boy (I think his name was George Jones?) and waited for the she-devil to come._

_She walked in, saying a short 'good morning' which one or two people responded to half-heartedly, and then waved her wand towards the board behind her, __on which writing appeared which she __ordered us to copy it down._

_I groaned, unscrewing the cap of my ink bottle._

* * *

**Please review guys. Your reviews make me really happy.**


	21. Tight Knit Group

**Hello everyone!**

**Hope you enjoy the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I feel like the more I barely get time to write these days. But I'm trying, okay. I can't leave this story at this point. It hasn't even reached the good parts, and I'm too invested in the characters.**

**The song for this chapter is 'Hound Dog' by Elvis Presley.**

* * *

I apparated with a crack.

"You can let go now Martha," I said with a chuckle.

Embarrassed, she let go, her vice like grip on my forearm disappearing. I walked in through the iron gates and trekked across the grounds, regretting wearing heels.

Stars littered the dark sky, surrounding the crescent moon. The Black Lake was calm, even the ripples caused by the Giant Squid silenced as the creature comfortably slept in the darkness. The only source of light, aside from the celestial bodies was from Hagrid's hut. Behind that, the Dark Forest looked like something jumped out of a horror movie, but having seen it every night for seven years, the sight filled me more with peace than with fear. Just over the edge the tree line, a herd of Thestrals could be seen flying.

Martha's face had subsided back into business mode.

I reached the castle, the blinding lights being a stark contrast to everything outside. I walked into the Great Hall as Martha headed to her room. The room was empty except for a certain grey-eyed boy who was sitting on the Gryffindor table. His held his face in his hands, engaging himself with making different shapes from a candle's flame which was floating right above him.

"Hey Sirius!" I said smiling. The flame died down into its usual form as Sirius turned to look at me.

He grinned back at me. "Hey," he said, with a short wave.

"Have James and Peter arrived?" I asked, sitting down beside him.

"They should be arriving right about now," he said, casting Tempus to check the time.

As if on cue, James walked into the room. A few moment past that Peter walked in taking a seat beside me, James on the other hand sat down on the table, across from us. And no, I don't mean the seat, I mean the table.

I wasn't surprised to see Peter. Umbridge had sent me a letter yesterday, telling me that Peter had taken a sick leave for today. Every day she would write to me giving me a report of how Peter was doing even though I never asked for one.

Just by reading the letter, for the life of me I couldn't fathom how this woman had gotten such a high-ranking job. The only job I would see her fit for was as an advertiser for chocolate frogs. Her toad-like appearance would look perfect on the adds.

Even through pen and paper, that woman could annoy me to a whole different level. My hatred for her almost rivalled my hatred for Voldemort.

Almost.

I watched Peter carefully.

It was very subtle, but you could notice the difference his job had brought in him.

Instead of his usual slumped posture, his shoulders were pushed back and his chest puffed out. He held his head higher instead of looking at his shoes the entire time. His clothes were ironed out to remove any wrinkles in them and if you looked even more closely, you would be able to tell that they were relatively new than what he usually wears.

The most noticeable of changes were his emotions. There was joy and confidence hidden in his eyes.

And right underneath that you would notice the nervousness.

"How're you doing Pete?" I asked smiling softly.

He smiled back. Not a polite smile that you give someone out of formality, but a genuine one, "I'm fine."

I nodded and then turned towards James, "And what about you James?"

I saw Peter's smile drop from the corner of my eyes.

"Good," he said.

"And how was your recording, Ms. Celebrity?" Sirius said.

I rolled my eyes, a smile on my face. "Tiring," I said, which was true.

We continued to talk for a few moments, catching up with each other.

My eyes caught onto Peter. The nervousness I had noticed before showed more blatantly at the moment.

He seemed to be giving himself a pep-talk.

After a few moments he took a deep breath and finally looked up.

I averted my eyes.

"Um- guys," Peter said, "I've got a new job."

Well.

This just made things a lot easier for me.

The other Marauders stared at him, still processing the abrupt statement.

James was the first one to recover.

"You got a new job?" asked James, "When?"

"Uh- they contacted me over the break," Peter said, "Tomorrow is my first day." He scratched the back of his head.

"That's great Pete," I said, a big smile on my face.

"What job did you get?" Sirius asked.

"Er- it's at the Ministry," Peter said, "In the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. They haven't exactly told me what the job entails, but it pays well, and I asked around, they said the job's not that tough."

"Pete," I said dawning a worried expression, "You shouldn't take up a job without knowing the details. Who knows what the job contains? They might make you do something you don't like." I moved forward, putting my hand on his shoulder, "Should I send Martha to find out some information."

Peter eyes widened. "No, no!" he rushed out, his voice so loud that it was border-line a shout.

I pulled my hand back. James gave him a weirded-out expression.

"I mean-" Peter cleared his throat, "I know what the job is about. Just don't know the specifics."

I nodded, acting as if Peter's outburst was completely normal. Everybody else seemed to brush it off as well.

James suddenly stood up grinning. "We should celebrate," he said, patting Peter on the back, "Let's head down to the Three Broomsticks."

Sirius nodded, looking like a Niffler who'd just spotted gold. "I'll call Moony," he said, jumping out of his seat.

"You guys go ahead," I said, "I'll head back to bed. The first task's tomorrow."

The boys didn't object too much (though Peter looked like he wanted to). It made sense. Those four had been best friends for years, I had just joined the group.

Works for me. I was too tired to keep up this act.

Sirius walked with me towards our rooms.

When we were out of the Great Hall I turned towards Sirius, still walking, and said, "Hey Sirius!"

He turned towards me.

"We all should surprise Pete tomorrow," I said excitedly, "It's his first day. The first task will be over by afternoon. We could go to the ministry during his break or something."

A grin grew on Sirius' face, "That's brilliant. I'll tell James and Remus."

"And maybe you can call Lily too," I added.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at this, "You just want to meet Lily, don't you?"

I flushed, avoiding his eyes, "Maybe."

He laughed. The sound similar to that of a dog barking. We discussed the surprise, deciding to go during the snack break, till I reached my room from where we parted ways.

Everybody knows, the Marauders are a tight knit group.

It had always been Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.

But I had a feeling Wormtail won't be in the equation any longer.

As I walked into my room, I heard another door bang open from down the corridor.

Sirius' booming voice carried across the hall, "Get your butt out of bed Moony! We're going out!"

I heard a short yelp and thud, as if something had fallen. This was followed by a pained groaned.

"Padfoot," Remus said, his voice a weird mix of anger, sleepiness, exasperation and pain. How someone fit so many emotions into one voice was beyond me, "I have work tomorrow."

"Oh rubbish," Sirius announced, ignoring the string of curses escaping Remus' mouth and dragging him out.


	22. Animal Cruelty 101 (minus hot dog)

**Hello everyone!**

**This chapter was really fun. I started writing this for my own fun but then decided to post it anyways. It was like flexing my writer muscles.**

**Please review.**

**The song for this chapter is "Avatar Soundtracks: Agni Kai [Extended]" from Avatar: the Last Airbender, uploaded on the channel 0rangaStang on yt.**

**Avatar the Last Airbender has the best tracks, you guys should check it out.**

* * *

I sat in the judges box secretly hating the whole concept of this tournament.

Maybe my teen-self would have found this exciting but for my present-self, the tournament was the equivalent of someone passionately waving a big ol' red flag screaming "MORTAL PERIL! MORTAL PERIL!" at the top of their voices while having a Sonorus charm in place.

And the 'security measures' did little to console me.

Chains were supposed to hold the dragon down while Dragon Keepers lined the perimeter.

But seeing as some of these 'experts' were to be busy chatting and placing bets with each other as the first dragon was being rolled in, they couldn't be held highly in my eyes. As a matter of fact, one of the dragon keeper was in the commentator box right now, betting with Ludo Bagman.

I wondered how much trouble I would be in if I hexed the two.

Bagman then shooed the man away (fortunately) and rushed to the champion's tent for the choosing of the dragons ceremony.

I saw a beautiful silvery-blue dragon with sharp grey horns, brought in as she roared and struggled the whole time. She had been tied onto a platform, which was being levitated into the arena by about 20 dragon keepers. The nest of eggs had already been set up and as the dragon's yellow eyes fell on it, she started to resist the dragon keepers' magic even more.

For the first time I was thankful for the corrupt nature of the wizarding world. Maxime and Karkaroff would have told their champions about the tournament already and Bagman would have told Cedric, whom he was betting on, so the champions' must be prepared and not just blindly walking into a death trap.

Speaking of the devil, Bagman ran back into the commentator's box and raised his wand to his throat muttering 'Sonorus'.

"Ladies, gentlemen and of course, dragons," Bagman chuckled as if he had just told a genius joke, "Welcome to the First Task of the historic Triwizard Tournament of 1994."

A deafening roar followed his announcement which rivalled that of the dragon's.

I had a hunch that the dragon wasn't feeling very welcome.

"The champion's task is to cross past the dragon and reach it's nest where an golden egg awaits them," Bagman paused dramatically, "This golden egg will hold a clue regarding the second task. Anyone who fails to get their eggs might as well be... eliminated."

"The first dragon we have here is a Swedish-Short Snout," Bagman pointed towards the dragon, on cue the dragon keepers removed the binds from the dragon. A hundred pairs of eyes snapped towards the dragon in impressive synchrony. The dragon attempted to fly towards her nest but hit the ground due to the chains on her feet, which rattled like bells in a temple.

She then crawled across the grounds towards the nest and stood over it, baring her teeth at the crowd.

She raised her head to the sky, emitting a huge stream of blue fire equalling the power of 10 muggle flamethrowers.

The crowd ooh-ed and aah-ed in unison, playing the part of a perfect audience.

All I could think of as the dragon, moved around in paranoia while trying to drag the weight of the enormous chains was that this, is animal cruelty.

"And here comes our first contestant," Bagman said, "Give it up for the Hogwarts champion - CEDRIC DIGGORY!"

Cedric Diggory walked into the arena - his hands shaking, his eyes glistening with fear and his fingers clenching around his wand - to be met by screams from the students of Hogwarts.

"GO CEDRIC!" "You can do it man!" "Hufflepuff rocks!" "HOGWARTS rocks!" "LOVE YOU CEDRIC" "CEDRIC DIGGORY FOR THE WIN!"

A few Beauxbaton students clapped politely while other looked on in disdain (though I had seen a group of girls swoon). The Durmstrang students, on the other hand, had started booing and hurling insults into the stadium.

Cedric didn't seem to hear them though, his eyes focused solely on the dragon who was returning the stare with a fierce glare.

The boy hesitantly took a step forward, as if testing his limits with a strict professor.

Instantly the dragon released a jet of fire.

Cedric jumped, ducking behind a rock.

The fire engulfed the rock, its blue tongues licking the stone, hiding it from sight.

After two whole minutes the fire died down, leaving just ash and smoke in it's place sprinkled with the glowing embers.

I sighed in relief when Cedric's tussled brown hair could be seen as he peeked out from behind the stone.

Cedric ran out from his hiding. Another beam of fire was shot his way, he jumped behind another stone a few feet ahead of the first one. When that stream of fire had ended he jumped up again, and ducked under a stone a few feet ahead of the previous stone as more fire was shot his way.

He continued on like this for a while.

"Look at this- Look at the way the boy is manoeuvring through the stadium," Bagman announced, "Using that quidditch agility to his advantage- BLIMEY! That was a close one. "

The crowd gasped as the fire nicked the edge of Cedric's cloak.

"Looks like the young lad will have to be careful- Oh my another close one," Bagman said, "The man's almost reached- will he be lucky..."

I was on the edge of my seat.

It wasn't luck that Cedric needed but a distraction.

He was too close to the dragon so the fire would reach him quicker, not only that but the dragon seemed to understand what Cedric was doing. She was more prepared. Cedric was dodging and ducking in too much of a rhythmic pattern, it was easier to understand when he would get out of his hiding spots.

"He's taking a risk this one. He's almost there-" Bagman said, excitement in his voice, "He has reached- and he- OH! Lord bless him, the poor boy almost got his head burnt off." The crowd gasped in unison, and I heard an Asian Ravenclaw scream Cedric's name.

"Clever move- pity it didn't work," Bagman said disappointed, "But look- he's on the move again- and he's off, jumping from stone to stone like a bowtruckle in search of fairy eggs. But what's he doing- he's moving sideways- what's on the boy's mind!"

I leaned forward in interest wondering along with the hundreds of other spectators, the pattern of Cedric's movements.

"What's this? The boy seems to be encircling the dragon- he's changing perspective."

Surely enough the Diggory heir seemed to be moving in a circle. The dragon- though shooting fire in his direction- couldn't move all that way in fear of trampling the eggs.

Cedric peeked out from behind the rock and pointed his wand towards... the ground?

"The boy's charming something- but what? Ho ho ho- genius- he's transfigured a rock into a dog. A brilliant distraction!"

The Labrador barked loudly, catching the dragon's attention. The dragon swivelled her head in the animal's direction. She roared angrily. The dog who had been enjoying it's newly formed life, blissfully ignorant, turned towards the dragon. The animal started shaking, like the diaphragm of a drum.

Cedric used this distraction to run out of his hiding place, sprinting towards the eggs.

Unfortunately for him, the dragon decided that she would rather have Roast Diggory than Hot Dog.

It turned towards and released its blue flames just as the boy was scooping up the golden egg.

Luckily, the dragon decided to redirect her beam of fire so as to not hit the eggs. Unluckily, it still passed close enough to Cedric for him to be burnt. He screamed and fell to the ground, clutching the egg like it was his lifeline. The crowd gasped, I heard the same Ravenclaw scream in fear.

Dragon keepers rushed to the scene and sent several stunners towards the dragon, who gave one last roar before falling to the ground. She was then levitated back into her cage, the nest of eggs in tow.

As Cedric was being taken away from the scene, he raised the arm that was holding the golden egg in a final moment of glory. The crowd roared in approval as Bagman excitedly spoke, "The boy has done it- amazing, ABSOLUTELY astounding." The crowd roared even louder in response to Bagman's commentary, he chuckled and said, "Seems like the crowd agrees. Very good indeed! And now the marks from the judges!"

Maxime raised her wand and gave Cedric a 6, Karkaroff then gave Cedric a 3, Crouch a 6, Dumbledore a 7 and Bagman gave a solid 10.

I raised my wand and gave a 7. Cedric may not have used any formidable magic, but his manoeuvring was worth a praise. Plus I was happy that the dog wasn't harmed.

That gave Cedric a total of 39 out of 60. He might have gotten more if not for Karkaroff.

Cedric grinned, the grin coming out lopsided due to half of his face being burned, and walked out of the arena into the Hospital wing.

"One down, three to go! Now comes in our second dragon-" the dragon keepers brought in a beautiful green dragon whose ears twitched at the sound of the crowd. This one was less violent than the previous dragon. Instead of roaring, she produced sounds that sounded partially like a whimper and partially like a growl. It had a beautiful lilt to it, that made me fall in love with the dragon immediately. The bindings on the dragon were removed just as Bagman announced, "It's a Common Welsh Green!"

The dragon roared loudly. The audience gasped at how musical it sounded. Instead of trying to fly like her predecessor, the dragon immediately scrambled towards her eggs, turning around to release a narrow stream of fire threateningly.

"And here comes our second champion," Bagman announced, "From Beauxbaton Academy, here comes - FLEUR DELACOUR!"

This reaction was more subdued than that of Cedric's but in no ways was it any less enthusiastic. The Beauxbaton student's clapped politely for their contestant. A group of the blue-clade students, whom I assume were Fleur's friends, decided to skip the politeness and cheer loudly for their friend hooting and whooping. Boys from all three schools were cheering loudly, a few screams of 'MARRY ME!' echoing across the stadium.

"Ms. Delacour, if you please."

Fleur, unlike Cedric, didn't waste time in jumping into her plan. Her movements were planned and calculated, Immediately she jumped behind a rock, not even giving the dragon time to fire at her.

She peeked over the rock and just narrowly missed becoming French Toast.

"Oh I'm not sure that was wise!" Bagman muttered.

She breathed deeply for a few moments, trying to calm herself.

This time the girl peeked from the far side of the rock, instead of from the top. She raised her wand and pointed it at the dragon. She muttered something, her brows knitted in concentration.

The crowd watched with baited breath as the girl muttered rapidly under her breath.

"She seems to be charming the dragon," Bagman said, "But what? Keep in mind folks charming a dragon is deemed extremely tough- not to mention dangerous. If Ms. Delacour succeeds..." He trailed off as the dragon started showing signs of the magic.

"Merlin, Ms. Delacour is putting the dragon to sleep."

The dragon lowered her body reluctantly, her lids drooping. She was visibly struggling to stay awake, but eventually subdued to the magic and lay down, her eyes closed. Steam bellowed from her mouth, as she took deep breaths.

"I guess never tickle a sleeping dragon has become literal for the girl hasn't it! Oh look- she's on the move. Treading on light feet, she's moving towards the dragon- MARVELLOUS! She's almost there!"

She moved towards the dragon's nest- only problem- "She'll have to climb over the dragon's body. Talk about a risk!"

The girl nervously put her hand on the dragon's scales, looking around in paranoia. A Beauxbaton girl screamed, "YOU CAN DO IT FLEUR!"

Taking a deep breath, Fleur started climbing, using the scales as support.

She reached the top of the dragon and swung her leg over.

"Oh... nearly! CAREFUL NOW... good Lord, I thought she's had it then!" Bagman stated, as the dragon turned in her sleep almost crushing Fleur. Thankfully, the girl had enough sense to jump off the dragon at the opportune moment, the nest cushioning her fall.

Fleur hastily scrambled up and rushed towards the golden egg, picking it up. She sighed in relief and raised it to the crowd, her silver ponytail swinging in the air.

"AND she's done it folks. Brilliant, absolutely- OH NO! Look's like the dragon was a snorer!" The dragon snored out a beam of fire, that caught Fleur's skirt. Dragon keepers rushed towards her but Fleur had already cast an Aguamenti, successfully dowsing out the fire.

A group of Ravenclaw boys hooted, grinning wolfishly at the French girl's now shortened skirt.

They yelped and shouted panic-stricken as they found out that their cloaks had some how caught on fire.

I wonder who did that?

The dragon keepers helped the girl get out of the nest as they started to levitate the dragon out of the arena.

"Now for the scores from our esteemed panel of judges."

Maxime gave her student a 10 smiling down warmly, Karkaroff gave a 2, Crouch a 5, Dumbledore a 5 and Bagman gave a solid 7.

I raised my wand and gave a 9. She may not have been the most flashiest or have the most excellently thought out plan, but she had done incredible magic (on a dragon no less) and had quick thinking. Not to mention she did it all without hurting herself.

So in total she got 38, one less than Cedric.

"And now for our final dragon." The last dragon brought in was a scarlet, smooth scaled dragon with a golden spikes which shone under the sun. "It's the Chinese Fireball, or the Liondragon- Oh I can see the Gryffindors are excited for this one."

The dragon was then released. She stood up gracefully, glaring at the audience who were staring at her with wide eyes. She growled and released flames to the sky in a mushroom shape.

She rushed to her nest, faster than the other dragons and curled its body around the nest, covering it from all sides.

"Now it's time for the last, but in no way the least, champion from Durmstrang - VIKTOR KRUM!" The crowd cheered thunderously, the sound coming not just from the rambunctious Durmstrang student's, but also from the many Quidditch fans.

"And here comes Mr Krum!" Viktor slouched into the arena, his eyes travelling all around, assessing the terrain. Like Fleur, he immediately jumped behind a rock. As soon as his feet hit the ground he peeked out and fired a spell at the dragon's eye. But if he was fast, then so was the dragon. She moved to the side so that the spell hit her scales instead, bouncing off harmlessly. He sent a curse again and the dragon dodged again.

This continued on for a while, "Mr. Krum is firing Conjunctivitis curses at the Dragon's eye, very smart- would have worked for the previous two easily- but the Chinese Fireball is fast and clever. OH LORD! That was close-"

The dragon had flown upwards a bit, not too much due to the chains, but just enough that if Viktor didn't have such a short profile he would have become the dragon's victory meal (or I guess Viktor-y meal).

Now that the dragon had found this advantage it would become harder for Viktor to fire curses.

"What is the boy doing? He's moving out of his hiding spot and- going back? Why is he going back?"

Krum started moving towards the stands, opposite to the dragon's.

"He's considerable feet away- but what's this! He's not dodging behind rocks anymore, he's gonna be hit by the fire! Merlin's beard- what is he thinking. AND THE DRAGON HAS FIRED! But what's this- the fire isn't reaching him. Oh clever, clever move- using the short range of fire to his advantage. And he's climbing the slopes at the edge of the arena- he's gaining height for advantage- genius! Absolutely brilliant!"

The dragon started growing frustrated and continued to fire at Krum even when it was of no use. She couldn't move forward, partially because of the chains and partially because she didn't want to leave her nest.

Krum fired the conjunctivitis curse, but having a clearer view now he was easily able to hit his aim. The poor creature roared in pain

"And the dragon's been hit! Oh no-" The whole stadium gasped. "It's trampled it's own eggs- that's not good, not good at all- the dragon keeper's are not happy. This happening... and right after some of them bet on Krum!"

"No!" I gasped at the sight of the crushed eggs. The dragon was away from her nest at the movement, but the remains of her pained trampling were still visible. Broken egg shells littered the ground covered with the egg's content. I thought I saw a bit of blood in there too.

All those eggs, all that life gone. And all for the sake of some twisted form of entertainment.

I looked at the crowd. Some people did look disturbed or sad at the crushing of the eggs, but most were too invested in Krum and his quest for the golden egg.

It made me sick. How apathetic they were.

"Krum is running towards the nest- the dragon's still close enough to hit him. Very daring!" Bagman was yelling. The Fireball let out another horrific shriek as it hit a stone in it's blind panic, "That's some nerve he's showing- and- yes, he's got the egg!"

The crowd roared in joy.

Krum took a few deep breaths and walked away from the nest not even bothering to raise his egg as the other champion's had.

The dragon keepers rushed towards the dragon- shooting Krum dirty looks on the way- and stunned the dragon. She was moved out of the stadium and Krum stepped forward to gain his marks.

"Now for the scores!"

Maxime gave him an 8 as I looked in shock. How could she give an 8? All the eggs were destroyed!

Karkaroff proudly gave a 10 (as expected), Crouch a 7, Dumbledore a 7 and Bagman gave an 8.

Did nobody care? Dragon eggs had been destroyed! I repeat, THIS IS ANIMAL CRUELTY!

I didn't blame Krum, it's not like he could have known what would happen, but the lack of concern from the crowd was appalling.

The wizarding world never ceases to surprise me- and not in a good way.

I gave him a 4, not that it mattered. His score had reached 40 even before I had given my score, surpassing Cedric and Fleur.

Now he had a total of 44. He walked into the mediwizard's tent

"This brings us to the end of the first task," Bagman yelled. The crowd screamed in approval, "What an exciting day folks, what an exciting day! Can't wait till the Second Task arrives. It will start on the Twenty fourth of February- I know, I know, a long wait- but I promise that it will be worth it. Let's wait and see if the champions can figure out their clues till then! Now I'll let you be. Go celebrate with your champions who have ALL succeeded in passing the FIRST TASK! Good day!"

Bagman dropped the Sonorus charm and walked off towards the mediwizard's tent where all the champions were.

I saw Xenophilius and Rita Skeeter scamper off behind him to gain some words from the champions. Originally, only Rita was supposed to write on the Tournament, but the glint of a few hundred galleons was enough for the Daily Prophet to allow the Quibbler to write on the subject.

I heard they had another interview during the wand weighing ceremony which I had missed due to my recording. Rita had apparently completely butchered it. It didn't matter though, anyone with even the last remaining shred of a brain could understand that this woman was a joke.

But, to be fair, the wizarding world was filled to the brim with idiots.

I walked out of the commentator's box. Immediately I was surrounded by the Marauders and Martha who had been sitting in the teacher's box.

"That was bloody brilliant!"

"Did you see that Chinese Fireball! It was so scary."

"Good Conjunctivitis Curse by Krum."

"That was the obvious way. The Delacour girl was much more ingenious."

"Nah! Sleeping curses are so boring."

"Can't believe they let dragons into the school."

"Yeah! Too bad they didn't have the tournament in our time."

"Yeah- we would have crushed it!"

"Only one of us would be champion James."

"True... then I would have crushed it."

"What makes you think YOU would be champion?"

"Well it's obvious isn't it. Who else would be champion?"

"Uh- me."

"Pfft- please Padfoot!"

"I'm pretty sure Lily would have been champion."

"..."

"..."

"Yeah Moony's right."

"True that woman's bloody brilliant."

Martha rolled her eyes becoming the physical manifestation of my thoughts.


	23. The Revelation

**Last chapter was so much fun to write, I absolutely loved it (as you could tell by the title in itself).**

**And now folks comes the chapter you all had been waiting for. Give it up for... THE REVELATION.**

**I don't know why I wrote that again, it's literally the title.**

**Sorry for posting this so late but after I read the tweets and that transphobic essay(? manifesto?) that JK wrote on her twitter I was a bit out of it- especially due to that autism line as my brother's autistic. But here we go!**

**Song for this chapter is 'Ballad of Mona Lisa' by Panic! At the Disco.**

* * *

I walked through the atrium of the ministry with the Marauders and Lily by my side.

Remus had classes off for the day due to it being the first task so, fortunately, he was able to come along. The marauders and I had walked outside of the Hogwarts gates and apparated to the Atrium where Lily had joined us shortly. I had put on my best fangirl face upon seeing the redhead.

We walked towards the elevators where James pressed the button for Level four. The elevator rattled as its gates closed.

On each level the gates would open, allowing entry for more wizards and witches while many exited.

Finally, we reached Level 4 and I stepped out as quickly as I could, breathing in relief. I was starting to get unnerved by the stares of people. I had half a mind of dropping the enchantments and morphing from Mica to Lisa, at least that way I could go by unnoticed, but I didn't think my companions would handle that well.

Lily led the away, knowing more about this part of the ministry than any of us. She walked towards a desk behind which a young woman sat, an expression of utter boredom adorning the woman's face. She had her feet resting on the table and was throwing a paperweight in the air and catching it repeatedly with a constant rhythm.

When she saw us approaching, flustered she set the paperweight down and swung her feet off the table, straightening her posture to seem sophisticated.

Her eyes immediately fell on Remus as recognition filtered into her eyes. She cleared her throat before asking, "Are you here for the werewolf registry?"

Remus stiffened, his eyes widening. The rest of the company's eyes swivelled to me like a multi-headed creature with a common brain.

It took me a moment to realise that Mica wasn't supposed to know that Remus was a werewolf.

Great. More dramatics.

I widened my eyes, as if I had just registered what the receptionist had said, and jerked my head in Remus' direction in shock.

As soon as I had done that he looked away, pointedly avoiding my eyes.

"Remus," I breathed out, "Are you- are you a..." I paused as if trying to come to terms with what I had just heard, "...a werewolf?" I finally whispered tentatively.

Remus looked like he wanted to either run away or throw up. Despite my interest in seeing Remus' reaction to the Peter situation, I'd rather he chose the former.

James put a hand on Remus' shoulder in support.

Remus took a deep breath. He looked up then and hesitantly answered, "Yes."

I wasn't sure how to respond. Was I suppose to console him, give a big dramatic speech about how this doesn't change him or ignore the information and just continue on. I wasn't close enough to Remus for the former two and the latter would just make me seem heartless.

Most people at this stage would start screaming their lungs out, boring a striking resemblance to a banshee, over how Remus is a werewolf and how he was 'evil' and 'tainted' or something.

I settled for putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly and giving him a kind smile. I heard the others let out a breath of relief.

Remus returned my smile with one of his own.

Lily stepped in at this point, looking between the two of us in appreciation. She then turned towards the receptionist then who had grown flustered over our interaction, probably having guessed that we were not here for the werewolf registry.

Lily spoke, "We're looking for Mr Peter Pettigrew."

"Oh," the woman said, "Mr Pettigrew is out for some work, he'll be returning shortly for his break. Till then you can wait in the sitting area." She gestured towards the 'sitting area' consisting of a cluster of old worn-out couches. Many of them had rips in place, its stuffing overflowing and its fabric covered with stains of unknown substances.

We all decided to remain standing.

I leaned against the receptionist desk. The marauders were still glancing my way every once in awhile radiating nervousness. I guess they were expecting me to react more dramatically. But honestly, what should I have done? Whip out a machete and run towards Remus with a war cry?

We waited for a few moments before our attention was drawn to the sound of multiple pair of shoes and loud chattering. The sound of camera shutters could also be heard, muffled over the multiple voices.

A large group entered through the gates, Umbridge in the lead, a group of ministry workers scampering behind her. Few reporters surrounded them like bees hovering over a flower.

"Yes, the promotion will be held in a few weeks- Cornelius is really pleased- motion passed with a majority- of course, of course," Umbridge spoke, breaking her flow in between to listen to the reporters' questions.

That was not what caught our eyes though. Right beside Umbridge was the sight of a familiar hunched figure.

You've guessed it folks- Peter Pettigrew.

I stepped back slightly. Partially so that the reporters wouldn't notice me and partially so that my face was out of the Marauders' view so that I could watch the scene unfold in peace.

The Marauders' face ranged from anger to betrayal to hurt. Peter walked past us into a corridor, unaware of our presence.

No one spoke, even after the group had passed, the bustling sounds surrounding them fading into the distance.

The clock hung on the opposite wall ticked by, its sound filling the room. The tension descended heavily upon our group, even the receptionist shuffled nervously.

Lily broke the silence, still staring into the corridor Peter had left through, her voice dangerously low.

"What. Job. Does. Mr Pettigrew. Have?" she paused between each word, taking deep breaths as if to calm herself.

The receptionist looked at her, confused and unsure as to what to say. She averted her eyes, looking everywhere but at the group.

"I said," Lily said, a tensed fury present in her voice, like a taught string about to snap. She turned around swiftly facing the receptionist, who let out a yelp at the redhead's expression. I masked my face into one of shock too as Lily faced my direction. "What job does he have?"

The poor receptionist scooted back a bit before stuttering out with a terrified expression, "H-he's the ass-assistant. Madame Um-Umbridge's assistant."

Lily's face turned red, matching the colour of her vibrant hair.

She then let out a huge bellow, "PETER!" before storming in the direction of the said boy.

* * *

**Feel free to ask questions. I'll answer all as long as they don't spoil anything.**


	24. Poor Peter

**Let's see the infamous Evan's wrath!**

**Song for this chapter is 'Backstabber' by Ke$ha.**

**Answering a guest review from leahbear0818 that was 'would it be spoiling if you if I asked if mica is going to tell them who she really is?'**

**\- Yes, it is spoiling, so, unfortunately, I can't answer this rn, you'll have to read the story to find out. But thank you so much for reviewing! It made my day!**

* * *

My first reaction was, 'Poor Peter.'

My second reaction, 'Ha! I'm gonna enjoy this.'

Lily stormed into the corridor.

"Miss- you aren't...," the poor receptionist tried to stutter out but Lily was already gone.

The anger from James, Remus and Sirius' face dissipated, replaced by an expression of utter dread. Simultaneously, they rushed after Lily.

I followed, not wanting to miss a second of this.

The red-head was easily spotted in the narrow corridor. She was striding so fast that even though the other Marauders were running, they still couldn't catch up with her.

She charged through the group of wizards, pushing them aside to reach a particular blond wizard at the very front. Cameras flashed, the reporters chattering excitedly over witnessing the drama.

Umbridge stepped forward, lifting her head to gain some advantage in height.

"Mrs Potter- you c-"

"Not now bitch," Lily said raising her hand in a silencing gesture as she reached Peter and grabbed his collar in a fierce grip, causing the boy to stumble back slightly as she raised him up a few inches from the ground.

By now the Marauders and I had reached the scene.

I swear I heard the pale boy whimpering. Legit whimpering.

"YOU TRAITOROUS ASS!" Lily shouted followed by a string of curses which I had never thought I would hear from her mouth.

"Security! Security!" Umbridge exclaimed, finally getting over the shock.

James and Sirius stepped forward, grabbing onto each of Lily's arms trying to loosen her grasp on Peter's collar. But Lily wasn't letting go easily.

Finally, it took 3 Aurors along with James and Sirius to make Lily let go of the now crinkled collar of Peter's shirt.

The rat scrambled back with a yelp, hiding behind one of the Aurors that had just arrived.

"HOW COULD YOU?! YOU BASTARD! How could you do that? How could you work with her? After all that she's done-" Lily continued struggling as James held her back, whispering calming words in her ear, "How could you do that to us? How could you do that to REMUS? After all that we've gone through together! EVERYTHING THAT WE'VE DONE FOR YOU!"

Peter looked at Lily in absolute fear. He was shivering, his face void of any colour and his eyes widened. More Aurors rushed to the scene standing in front of the group of ministry workers forming a human barrier.

Lily continued screaming at Peter, letting out all her anger, all her frustration.

Peter's eyes darted towards the media. They were whispering among themselves, looking at Lily as if she was a madwoman. Umbridge was whispering to one of them, adding fuel to the fire, defending herself and her company. His eyes then darted towards the Aurors. They had their wands out, positioned towards the Marauders and me, ready to defend the group behind them.

A sense of pride and confidence filled him seeing all those people on his side.

"What you've done for me?" he said stepping forward with new-found confidence, a dangerous edge to his voice, "What have you done for me? NOTHING, absolutely nothing! I am the one who's always helped you out! I've kept all your secrets, helped in all your plans, been there for you all, in the sidelines! FOR WHAT? Your belittling and your taunts! You've always held me back! EVEN NOW you're holding me back!" He laughed then, "I've finally got this job that I'm good at! But you can't bear to see me in that position, can you? YOU CAN'T BEAR TO SEE THAT I MIGHT BE BETTER THAN YOU!"

"You know that's not it Peter," Sirius growled out, "You know that's not the reason we're mad."

"Then why?" Peter spat out in return, "Cause Remus is a werewolf? Cause he's a filthy half-breed!"

"YOU-" Lily exclaimed, pushing James off her, though from the look on James' face I'm pretty sure he let her go on purpose.

The bravery on Peter's face melted away as Lily charged towards him. He tried to hide even further behind the Aurors but Lily whipped out her wand and shot a Stupefy towards them, blasting them off their feet, leaving Peter uncovered.

She raised her hand and punched Peter right in the jaw. He cried out and stumbled back.

Aurors grabbed onto each of Lily's arm and dragged her back but this time she didn't protest as Peter cradled his jaw, howling in pain.

Instead, she shouted at her former friend, "Don't you dare call Remus that! Don't you dare you little piece of-"

"Take her out! Take her out of here right now!" Umbridge ordered over Lily's voice, her face scrunched up as it turned redder by the minute.

Lily jerked her hand out of the Aurors' grip as she reached James' side, glaring at them, "I'm going. Don't want to be in her Toadly's presence anyways."

She turned on her heels then and walked out from there. James shot a nasty glare towards Peter before rushing after her.

"You're a fucking coward, you know that," Sirius said, grimacing with disgust at the sight of the shivering boy he had once called his friend.

He put one arm around Remus who had remained silent throughout the whole ordeal, his eyes fixated upon the floor. I walked over to Remus' other side and took his other arm. Together we walked out.

Once we were out in the corridor, my eyes fell on Lily and James in the sitting area. They sat, not caring anymore about the state of the couches. Lily's head was buried into James' neck and he had his arms wrapped around her. Her breath was still ragged, it's sound echoing across the room.

The receptionist opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something but then wisely decided to stay quiet.

We walked over to the two. Remus fell into a seat, dropping his face into his hands, hiding it from sight.

Sirius bent near him, putting a hand on the werewolf's shoulder.

"You okay mate?" he asked concernedly

Everyone looked up, eyes trained on Remus as he remained silent for a few seconds.

"Yeah," he finally spoke up, his voice fragile, muffled from behind his calloused palms, "Yeah- I'm fine."

Nobody believed him.

Still, we all nodded. James leaned forward and pulled Remus into a hug. Sirius joined him and soon they were followed by Lily.

I wasn't about to hug anybody so I just put a hand on the Remus' shoulder.

"Thanks guys," Remus said, his voice soft as if he couldn't find the energy to speak up.

"Worm-" James choked on the word as if he couldn't bear speaking that nickname, as if he couldn't bear talking about Peter with such familiarity. "Peter's," he finally said, "an idiot."

"You got that right," Lily murmured.

We stayed like that for a few moments. A tensed silence filling the room.

Sirius then pulled away, a big grin on his face. "Guys," he said. Everybody except Remus looked towards him, questioning looks on our faces due to his sudden change in mood, "Peter turned out to be a big ol' rat, didn't he?"

For a moment, none of us responded.

Then all of us groaned in unison.

"No! Not the puns!" Lily moaned.

"In the whole world of rat-related humour, you go for that?" James asked chuckling.

Remus finally looked up, a tired smile on his face. "That's pathetic Padfoot," he said, "Even for you."

A grin spread over everyone's lips. "Oi! For your information- I tell amazing jokes!"

"Yeah, yeah tell yourself that," I murmured rolling my eyes teasingly.

Sirius playfully bumped his shoulder with mine.

"At least I got you to laugh," he pointed his finger at Remus.

"Congratulations," Remus retorted.

Sirius bowed dramatically, "Thank you!" A chorus of laughter left the group's mouths.

The conversation was interrupted as the group of reporters passed from the room, whispering among themselves as if they just had a field day.

Behind them came the group of ministry officials, flanked on all sides by Aurors.

Umbridge, who was leading the group, glared at us but was largely ignored for the mousy boy beside her.

A purple bruise coloured his jaw, which I noticed Lily stared at with smug satisfaction. He looked fearfully at her before his eyes fell on the Aurors around him.

Newfound bravery filled his eyes, as his chest puffed out and his head was held high.

He glared back at us, a sense of superiority filled in his posture.

His eyes flitted towards me for a second but he didn't even twitch before he looked ahead.

Not that it surprised me.

Because it was clear.

Peter loved power more than he loved any person in the world.

* * *

**So a lot of people have been asking me, 'Wouldn't Lisa/Mica feel bad about hurting Lily or Remus in the process of taking her revenge, cause they were once her friends?'**

**After ignoring these questions for a long time in fear of revealing a major spoiler, I finally decided to answer you all (with a lot of re-reading might I add).**

**Lisa is not going to target anyone solely based on association. She isn't gonna harm Lily just because she's James' wife or Remus cause he's their friend. If she was doing that then she would've been hurting Alyssa and Harry too. They ARE the most vulnerable and would easily affect the lives of everyone in close association with them, like James.**

**Lisa's craving for revenge is incredibly layered and diverse. Every person she takes revenge on has done something to deserve so, has done something to deeply hurt Lisa. There IS a reason I'm doing a flashback kinda story, or else I would just have thrown in a few chapters of backstory and been done with it.**


	25. Home Sweet Home

**Hello there! All flashbacks this chapter.**

**I'm curious. What are your thoughts on the people in the Marauders era (not in this story, but in canon)? I feel like most people have some really strong but highly contradictory opinions.**

**Now, on with the chapter.**

**Song for this chapter is 'Country Roads' by John Denver.**

* * *

_Lisa headed towards her mother who was standing at the edge of the crowd, her eyes scanning the platform for her children._

_She barreled into her mum, wrapping her short arms around the older woman's torso as tightly as she could._

_"Hey mum," Lisa said grinning, her voice muffled from the hug._

_"Hello Lisa," her mother said accompanied with the kind of smile that only a mom could give, "How is your first year going?"_

_Lisa immediately pulled away with a huge grin on her face, "Oh, it was awesome mum! It was like everything you, Dad and James said, but BETTER! There were these moving staircases and the sky-like ceiling. And though some people were mean, I met so many other amazing people and made so many friends. And our common room was in the dungeons mom, you could see the lake from there, it was like living underwater! You could see the fishes and the merpeople and the grindylows and the GIANT SQUID! It was so beautiful. One time I thought I saw a hippocampus! But it was just a really clumpy seaweed. Kinda disappointing. But the teachers are so good. Dumbeldore always says these funny things and wears these weird clothes. Alice- a friend of mine- is always outraged by that. Says something about it being fashion suicide and that the colours give her a headache. I kinda like it though- don't tell her that she would kill me. And McGonagall is SO much scarier than what you described- but she is so cute when she is a cat! And the food! Oh mom- don't even get me started on the food!The food was so..."_

_"Lisa, Lisa," Euphemia interrupted, smiling at her, "Relax... we have the whole Christmas break to talk. But you need to breath."_

_Lisa chuckled sheepishly turning red, realising that she had been rambling the whole time._

_Her mother's eyes then fixed on something behind her, "Look- here comes James." _

_The smile on Lisa's face dimmed upon hearing her brother's name. She moved behind her mother, trying to keep a neutral expression on her face as James ran up to them, giving her mum a hug. Once he had pulled away Euphemia asked him about his year just like she had with Lisa. _

_Lisa didn't bother listening to his response. Instead, she waved to Frank whom she had just spotted heading towards the barrier with his mother who had a no-nonsense look on her face that would give McGonagall a run for her money. He waved back, a grin on his face before disappearing through the pillar._

_"Come on. It's time to go," Euphemia said catching Lisa's attention. _

_Euphemia headed towards the barrier, her children in tow, who, unbeknown to her, were pointedly avoiding each other's eyes._

_Upon exiting the station, they ducked into an alley away from muggle eyes and then apparated, Lisa and James holding onto each of Euphemia's hands._

_Lisa steadied herself once the dizzying sensation of the apparition was over._

_She looked up and the familiar sight of Potter manor greeted her._

_They walked in through the gates and Lisa breathed in relief as the heating charms hit her, melting the snow which had fallen into her hair and over her coat. With cracks of apparition, two house-elves arrived by their sides. She greeted them and they smiled back at her warmly, bowing slightly before taking her brother and her luggage._

_"Ok- go up and change," Euphemia ordered, "Dad will be home in a few minutes. Lunch will be ready by then so come down quickly." With that, she headed towards the kitchen, a house-elf in tow who was hastily telling her of the lunch preparations._

_This left James and Lisa all alone._

_Sensing this Lisa turned around, wanting to say something but James spoilt those plans by rushing up the stairs towards his room._

_She sighed, wondering how long this would go on._

_Not wanting to stand alone in the room for long she also climbed the flight of stairs reaching the first landing. She spared a glance in the direction of James' bedroom hoping to catch sight of him._

_All she was greeted by was the posters upon his firmly closed door._

_She walked in the opposite direction of where she had been looking, towards a mahogany door. Posters of the Puddemore United and Spellbound were plastered all over it except one poster in the middle that said 'In My Defense, I Was Left Unsupervised' with a laughing witch riding a broom in the centre. _

_Lisa pushed the door open and beamed as the familiar sight of her bedroom met her._

_It was a fairly big room with a queen-size bed pushed against the middle of the wall to her opposite, over a plush mustard-coloured carpet, covered by a white bedsheet. This was covered by a red fluffy blanket and a bazillion pillows ranging in white, golden and maroon colour (yes, she was a sucker for pillows). On one side of the bed was a door leading to the bathroom. On the other side was a bedside table with just a lamp, a radio and a picture of her and her family on top. The wall behind that was yellow, unlike the other walls which were off-white in colour, on which was painted an apple tree with little hummingbirds surrounding it._

_Near the wall to Lisa's right was a shelf. The lower rack of the shelf was filled completely with comics. Above that were some prank items from Zonko's and records from various wizarding artists. On the third shelf ranged all kinds of knick-knacks from hair ties and clips to random muggle stuff that she had found as a toddler and hadn't bothered to clear out afterwards and the gramophone on which she played her music. Right beside that was a desk which she rarely ever used. It was now just covered with clothes which she had been too lazy to put back in their places._

_On the third wall was the door from which she had entered. Beside that were pictures and posters that she hung much like on the outside of her bedroom door. A guitar and her broom lay in the corner leaning against a trunk in which her other quidditch equipment lay._

_On the last wall was a door nearing the bathroom door which led to a walk-in closet. A gold shimmery fabric covered a section of the wall through which the small jets of the noon sunlight filtered into the room._

_Lisa walked towards those curtains and pulled them apart. She grinned looking at her favourite part of the room._

_A bay window was in front of her. Its surface had a thin mattress, pillows (loads of them) in all colours and a thin blanket on it._

_That wasn't the best part though. A huge twisty tree was right outside her window, it's extensive leafy canopy sheltering her view from the scene ahead. Small coatings of snow covered the leaves outside at the moment, which had been charmed by her father to be in its green and blooming state despite whatever the weather was. Through cracks which had formed in the wall around the window, vines and branches had poked into the room, clinging to the walls forming the image of an intricate spider's web._

_Lisa pushed the window up and poked her hand out slightly feeling the cold breeze which couldn't enter the room, again courtesy to her father's magic. She placed her hand over a branch of the tree feeling its rough bark. The branch extended forward towards the main trunk as if forming a path for her to follow. She often did climb out, imagining herself walking through a portal into another dimension. _

_Not that she would do it now. It was too cold. And she hated the cold._

_She pulled back from the window remembering that she had to clean up and change._

_She headed into her closet in which the house-elves had placed her trunk and changed into something more comfortable, just in time too as her mother called her downstairs with a loud shout._

_Lisa headed down to the ground floor, skipping every alternate stair on the way. _

_A man stood in the centre of the room, his back faced to her, talking to James who had arrived just a few moments before her._

_A wide smile crossed the girl's face upon spotting the man. _

_She bounded down the remaining stairs and ran up to him, wrapping her arms around his back with so much force that he stumbled forward a bit._

_"DAD!" she exclaimed excitedly._

_When he had regained his balance, her father shifted slightly in her grip so he could face her and patted her softly on her head._

_"Hello Lisa," he said, "How about we head towards the lunch? Euphemia must be waiting."_

_Lisa pulled away with a frown and her father headed towards the table, James following, but not before sending a scowl in her direction._

_She ignored that, instead focusing on her dad's words._

_Did he call her... Lisa? _

_He never called her Lisa, unless they were in public. He always called her kiddo. Or occasionally princess. Heck, he even called her Potter jr. more than he called her Lisa._

_And now that she thought about it, was it just her or did her father leave her pretty abruptly?_

_The moment she had pulled away from the hug, he had walked towards the dinner table. Forget talking, he didn't even look at her. All he did was awkwardly pat her on the head. Once. _

_Even the house-elves had been friendlier than this._

_Lisa shook off those thoughts._

_She was reading too much into this. She has been living at Hogwarts for about 3 months by this point, that was the longest she had been away from her home, her parents. That was probably why everything felt so weird._

_Yeah, that's what it was._

_"Lisa," her mom called out as she walked out the kitchen, floating delicacies by her side._

_"Huh- yeah coming," Lisa said, snapping out of her thoughts._

_She walked towards the table and took a seat just as her mom started laying down the food, neither of the male Potters sparing her a glance._


	26. Love

**Every time I start a chapter I itch to just start by writing- I'm back- in the author's note and then laughing at my own cleverness (or puniness? I guess).**

**Not a very happy chapter this one. But we can work with it.**

**All past chapter. From next chapter starts the present again.**

**Song for this chapter is 'Honestly' by Kelly Clarkson.**

* * *

_The Potter family had this fixed family dynamic. A dynamic which was clear even to their mere acquaintances. Though the parents loved both their kids equally, it was always apparent that Lisa was much closer to her dad while James was closer to his mom._

_You could see these dynamics at work predominantly at the food table._

_On a common day, Lisa would sit beside her dad, James by his mom. _

_Euphemia would dote upon James as if he were a fragile china glass and James would soak in the attention his chest puffing out. Lisa and her father would find this extremely amusing and silently laugh at the mother-son duo's antics, teasing them behind their backs, trying not to let Euphemia hear._

_They would obviously fail._

_Euphemia would hear and, depending upon her mood and James' reaction, she would either scold the two or just give up (Lisa swore they were the reason behind most of her mom's grey hair)._

_When things were particularly interesting- James would prank Lisa for making fun of him and she would prank him right back, often leading to a full-blown prank war in the Potter household leaving everyone residing their with fresh tales to tell their friends._

_But as mentioned before, all this happened 'on a common day'._

_The Potters sat around the dining table for lunch._

_At first, you would think nothing was wrong. Lisa still sat beside her father who was sitting at the head of the table, her mother on her opposite side and beside her mother sat James._

_But then you would notice their expressions._

_Fleamont Potter sat with a neutral expression on his face, focusing solely on his dinner. This might not have been a cause of concern if you didn't know the, usually jovial and talkative, man._

_Euphemia Potter who had originally been talking happily with her son had soon noticed her husband's shift in mood. Now she was nervously looking between the man and her children._

_James Potter looked confusedly at his parent's sudden silence, particularly his mom's who had abruptly stopped their conversation. He didn't understand what was happening and sat silently, trying to figure everything out._

_Lisa Potter was in a similar state. She wasn't sure what was happening. But unlike James, she could tell that something was wrong. Her dad was not his usual self. That didn't stop her from trying to tell herself otherwise, as if ignoring the elephant in the room would make it disappear._

_For the first time in years, the Potter's lunch table was completely silent._

_Euphemia nudged her husband._

_Fleamont looked up, almost nonchalantly, as if he didn't notice anything out of the usual._

_"Honey," Euphemia said, "Don't you want to ask the kids anything?."_

_Fleamont stared intently at Euphemia, the two sharing a silent conversation, emphasises by quirks of eyebrows and pursing of lips._

_After a few moments, Fleamont looked away, clearing his throat. "Yes, yes, of course," he looked towards James and Lisa, plastering a smile onto his face, so visibly forced, "How's school going for you both?"_

_"It was nice dad," Lisa replied. James responded similarly._

_"Not troubling the teacher are you?"_

_"Of course not." "Never dad." Both said in similarly unconvincing tones._

_"Unless you consider Filch a teacher."_

_"Or Madame Pince."_

_The corners of Fleamont's mouth twitched. "What about pranks?"_

_James immediately launched into a rant, telling them about the pranks he had carried out with the other Marauders. Lisa listened with heightened glee to a certain prank containing an orangutan and her wonderful (note the sarcasm) DADA professor._

_By the time James had finished, the mood in the room had lifted considerably. Even the tension between the two siblings had lessened. As they joked around and laughed._

_Her father then faced her for the first time that day, a grin on his face._

_"What about you Lisa? Any pranks?"_

_Lisa opened her mouth, ready to tell her dad about Incendies, the Halloween prank and the feys one. Her eyes then fell on James and she paused._

_Was she ready to reveal Incendies to James?_

_He was joking and talking to her now, but how long would this mood of his last? What if he went back to his cold self when they returned to Hogwarts? What if he then decided to reveal that she was Incendies? Not to mention that one of the reasons she kept Incendies a secret was because of him._

_She would have to tell her dad when James wasn't around._

_Mind made up she said, "Um- no, no I haven't." She tried to catch her dad's eyes to hint that she was being dishonest. But he didn't notice._

_"Oh," was all he said disappointedly as he turned back to his food, returning to silence._

_Her mother who was again engaged in a conversation with James, didn't notice this time._

_Lisa tried to catch her dad's attention again and again, but he wouldn't respond When the lunch was over, her father quickly left the room leaving her to rush after him, filled with excitement, wanting to tell him everything._

_"DAD!" she called out towards his retreating back, "Dad- wait! I need to tell you something. Dad- "_

_He didn't listen._

_Instead, he walked into his office, slamming the door behind._

_Lisa rushed to the door and turned the doorknob to open the door._

_It was locked._

_She frowned, trying to open the door again. Her dad never locked the door._

_When it didn't open, she felt a pit in the depth of her stomach._

_She shook the feeling away. Her father was probably doing some important work and didn't want to be interrupted. She stepped back with a sigh, deciding to talk to him when he came out after completing his work._

_He didn't come out for the rest of the day._

_"Mum," Lisa's voice was tentative._

_Her mother looked back at her, wiping some dirt from her forehead, acquired from tending to the alyssums in her garden. _

_She smiled at Lisa, "What is it?"_

_Lisa wrung her hands, not knowing how to proceed._

_It was the last day of the holidays. Each day had passed similarly to the first. James glaring at her. Her mom being the sweetest human on earth. The house-elves being their delightful self. Her room being a safe haven._

_And her dad still ignoring her._

_The only difference was with James. The boy had started noticing their father's ignoring her and had started blaming her for that, shifting from just ignoring her to being outright nasty as if making up for Sirius' absence(who was the ringleaders of troubling her at Hogwarts)._

_Every day she tried to work up the nerve to ask her mother about her dad. But fear of what she might hear made her chicken out each time._

_But she would be returning to Hogwarts tomorrow. And she couldn't leave without asking her mom._

_She took a deep breath._

_"Why is dad ignoring me?"_

_Her mother froze. _

_"What?"_

_Lisa shifted nervously, forcing the words out again, with equal resistance met. _

_"Why is dad ignoring me?"_

_Euphemia looked at her for a few moments af if hoping that Lisa would just burst out laughing and exclaim, 'Just Kidding!'._

_She then let out a sigh._

_"Merlin I'd hoped you wouldn't notice," she huffed. Euphemia shifted upon the ground so that she was sitting comfortably. She then patted the ground beside her, signalling for Lisa to sit. _

_Lisa obeyed with raised eyebrows. _

_"I realise now that that was a stupid plan," she said looking towards Lisa with a small smile. When Lisa didn't return it she sighed again._

_Lisa had been noticing how weary her mother seemed sometimes these days. _

_She was the one who was trying to involve the whole family in conversations, trying to get them to work along, essentially holding onto the connection between the four with a flimsy thread. But with each passing day, she seemed to give up a bit more. Her energy, her resolve diminishing. So much so that yesterday she didn't even try to make small talk at dinner._

_"Your dad," Euphemia started before pausing, "Um- you see... You must understand Lisa that we always love you, your dad just needs to adjust, to process the information. It's a bit of a shock for him you see..."_

_"Mum," I interrupted, "I won't judge. I just need to know."_

_Euphemia nodded, "Yes- um- it's... it's just," she paused again as if trying to find the right words, "Your sorting..."_

_Lisa stood up abruptly. Euphemia jumped at the sudden movement._

_Those words were enough for her to understand._

_"Slytherin. It's because I'm a Slytherin, isn't it?" she asked trying to keep her voice as calm as possible._

_She had guessed this, dwelled on this reason more times than she could count. But she had never let herself believe it, feeling like such a terrible daughter for even thinking that her parents were capable of acting like this._

_Euphemia avoided her eyes. But the look on her face was enough of a confirmation._

_"He's just shocked. He still loves you," she said defensively. She looked up, "We still love you."_

_Lisa nodded._

_She tried to push down the feeling of betrayal in her gut._

_Her father still loved her. He wasn't like James. He loved her. He was her dad._

_Blood is thicker than water, she repeated that phrase like a mantra in her head. _

_She sat back down beside her mother, staring at the unblooming plants, trying to distract herself from everything._

_But she couldn't help herself. She couldn't help herself from asking. _

_"How long will he take?" She didn't look at her mother as she continued, "To get over me being a... a Slytherin."_

_"I can't tell Lisa," Euphemia said shaking her head, "Hopefully by summer break."_

_Lisa just nodded ignoring every word her brain was urging her to shout._


	27. What? You Thought I was Done?

**Hey. How ya all doing?**

**Me? Yeah, I'm not in the best place right now. Not exactly the worst place possible but just not in a very positive mindset.**

**I feel like I need to get out of my house a bit. Clear my head.**

**Anyways, who wants to hear me be all pessimistic. Ugh!**

**On to the story!**

**Song for this chapter is 'Black Widow' by Katy Perry.**

* * *

What?

You thought I was done with Peter?

That I would leave him alone with a new job, an amazing reputation, newfound confidence, 500 galleons monthly incomes and so much more... but some fewer friends?

Cause friendship is magic or something.

Ha! Hate to break it to you people, but this ain't a kids show.

No, you see this was just the beginning of my plan(with a bit of personal amusement thrown along cause I just couldn't resist).

Now, comes the main agenda.

It has been two days since the Peter-Lily-fight thingy. The Marauders and Lily were understandably upset. The two Aurors and one Professor's conversation had become considerably less boisterous than before, thankfully as I didn't know how much longer I could bear having to laugh at the stupidest of jokes.

"Tapetum," I said, facing the wall which slowly morphed into a chimney.

I walked into the floo and quickly enunciated, "Atrium, British Ministry of Magic."

As the flurry of green fire died down, I stepped out. My feet hitting the shiny black marble floor. A container rested next to the floor I had stepped out of, a handful of visitor batches in it. I picked one up and pinned it to my cloak, much as I had done the last time.

A sense of deja-vu went through me as I passed the security check with my hair and eyes back to their brown state and my height shorter. I was even wearing the same things and carrying the same bag I had with me the last time I had visited the ministry.

This time though I didn't head straight for the elevators.

Instead, I moved to the farthest corner of the room where there was a thinner crowd and ducked into an alcove, pressing myself into the shadows.

"Illusiont," I said, waving my wand around myself as if tying myself with ropes.

I shivered as I felt like a raw egg had been broken over my head. I felt the tips of my fingers tremble from the soft buzz of the magic. I looked down and saw the black of my cloak fading away, merging with the cream wall behind. I brought my hand up and, except for the faintest shimmer of movement, I could barely distinguish it from the floor below.

I walked out of the alcove, making sure I didn't bump into anyone, fiddling with the strap of my now-disillusioned bag.

I then headed towards a metal gate a few doors to the left of the elevators. It was open for anyone to pass through but most people ignored it.

I stepped in to be met with a flight of staircases.

Nobody used the stairs in the ministry anymore, preferring to use the elevators as is the case in most places, unless of course if it was to reach Level 10 where the elevator didn't go.

I jogged down the stairs passing each level marked with a plaque, like the ones you would find at a metro station.

After about fifteen minutes, I reached the level I was looking for, out of breath and just glad that I had to walk downstairs and not upstairs. How I was able to walk past these many stairs, or sometimes even more, at Hogwarts in my youth remains a mystery to my present self.

I walked towards the metal gates, walking past the plaque that read-

Level 2: Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters and Wizengamot Administration Services.

Stepping out I walked down the corridor which was quite similar to the one on Level 4. Passing several doors, plenty of hallways and other winding corridors.

It was in one of these corridors that I turned, walking past a group of Aurors who were happily chatting away.

I walked to the very end of the corridor reaching a door.

I waved my wand, casting a nonverbal 'Muffliato' behind me, before turning the knob of the door and walking in.

The room, marking a sharp contrast to Umbridge's office, was sophisticated and professional, filled with files and books accompanied by a desk and chair. The only personalised things in the room were some degrees hanging on the back wall and a picture frame on the desk of a young redhead and a woman.

The woman in question was sitting on the desk right in front of me with short curly blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore the formal black ministry robes along with a matching witch's hat. She gave off a feeling much like Martha did, all businesslike and serious, except she also had a leaderlike aura to her.

She looked up when I entered the door and frowned upon not seeing anyone in the way. The door closing on its own didn't quell her shock either.

I raised my hand and saw her eyes slightly catch on the shift of my hand for a moment before unfocusing again.

I waved my wand which was poised in my raised hand, much like I had done while applying the charm, and let the disillusionment drop.

The woman immediately stood up from her seat, taking her wand out and pointing it at me.

I stood still, unperturbed by the movement, letting the woman's suspicion quelch before I said anything. Upon realising that I wasn't about to attack anyone, the woman's shock turned to aggravation.

"Who let you in? No one is allowed to come in without an appointment," she started, tucking her wand into her pocket, moving towards the door muttering, "Those good for nothing Aurors," along the way.

I stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

She just looked at me irritatedly, as if I were an annoying fly that she wanted to swat away.

"Madame Bones," I nodded respectfully towards the woman pulling my bag off my shoulder and unzipping it, "I apologise for the intrusion but there is something I needed to tell you. And it's urgent... as the breaking and entering might suggest."

"Well, I don't want to hear it. Submit a verbatim to the front desk like everyone else," she then looked past my shoulder shouting, "Aurors! AURORS!"

"We all know how long it takes for cases to reach from the front desk to the departments, ma'am," I said ignoring Amelia who was screaming for Aurors, "Oh, by the way- I've cast Muffliato on the door, they can't hear you."

I finally pulled out the file I was looking for in my bag, holding it out in front of me.

"Here."

She pushed it to the side, reaching inside her pocket for her wand again, probably to undo the muffling charm.

"Madame Bones," I said again holding the file out again. She ignored me. "Madame Bones," I said this time in exasperation. She pulled out her wand pointing it at the door.

Realising I had no other choice I raised my wand. "Expelliarmus."

The years of working as a Law Enforcer had given her enough experience that the wand didn't fly out her hand, but it did make her loosen her grip.

"Accio wand," I said and the wand this time soared out of her hands and into mines. I quickly tucked it into my pocket, so that Amelia didn't have a chance to grab it.

She looked at me with a livid expression. If looks could kill then I would have been six feet under, partying with Hades in the underworld.

"Apologies ma'am, but you'll want to read this," I took a step forward holding the file again, "Just one page, that's all I'm asking for. If you wish to still not be involved after that then I'll walk out and you'll never have to see my face again."

Amelia continued glaring at me, but the part where I talked about willingly leaving the room seemed to peak her attention.

How flattering.

She snatched the file out of my hand, with a disgruntled sound, flipping it open rather aggressively.

She started reading it, her eyes scanning the page with a quickness that could only be identified in a reader.

The glare from her faces melted as she scanned the first page of the file. I watched with satisfaction as she flipped the page over, reading the second page.

She went through the whole file in record time, soaking in all the information like a sponge.

Once done, she shut the file close and didn't waste time moving towards her desk, grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill. She scribbled on it a short note, the sound of the quill scratching against parchment giving away the urgency she was expressing through her words.

"My wand," she said not even looking up from her desk as she finished with her letter, folding it into an aeroplane.

I pulled the course wood out from my pocket and handed it to her.

She snatched it away and walked briskly towards the window in the corner of her room. She murmured a charm on the paper and swished her wand in unison, charming it to her will. I watched the plane float up from her hand defying the laws of gravity. Once it had reached a sufficient height, it dived nose down, out of the window and out of our sights.

Amelia then turned back towards me. Still processing all the information that had just been handed to her on a silver platter.

She moved towards her desk, picking up the file and holding it as if she were showing me a card.

"How did you-" she paused, a sparkle of glee appearing in the depths of her eyes, "I've been trying for years! Wh- how-"

I chuckled, interrupting her from her stutters.

"I have my sources," was all I bothered replying with.

* * *

**Can we all just agree that quills are utterly useless and the wizarding world should move towards pens, or at least pencils? Cause there is no reason not to! It's not like pens work on electricity and will go haywire near magic.**


	28. The Not-so-Sweet Life of Rat and Toady

**I've recently discovered (and by recently I mean like 5 minutes ago) that I used the word 'cool' a lot in my texts and reviews. And as a writer that really aggravates me.**

**But old habits die hard.**

**Anyways, let's go!**

**P.S. Your reviews make me really happy. So please review!**

**P.P.S. My chapter titles are becoming more and more creative and I love that!**

**Song for this chapter is 'Zero' by Imagine Dragons.**

* * *

Peter's POV

Chaos. Absolute chaos.

That's all my brain could process.

It had been a normal day of work for me. I was sitting in my office, arranging some of my boss' papers.

I heard the receptionist's voice from outside. Her voice carried through the empty halls and into my room. It seemed like some aurors had just arrived.

I didn't pay attention to them much, aurors tended to come in and out of the department for various reasons. If I was involved somebody would inform me.

The door to my office banged open making me jump in my seat.

A young female auror stepped in. I recognised her as one of the Level 5 aurors.

That knowledge in itself immediately scared me.

"A- auror Brande," I stuttered out, "Is th-there a problem?"

"Madame Umbridge's secretary?" the woman questioned. I could see more aurors from lower levels outside of my door, though they let Brande do all the work.

"Yes," I replied tentatively.

"We need you to come with us," she said, her tone apathetic.

"Wh-what?" I said, my eyes widening, "Why? Have I done something?"

Why were they taking me away? Where were they taking me? What was happening?

"We just need to ask you a few questions."

The woman said it as if it was supposed to reassure me. To make me feel better. But in reality, it just made me panic more. When I didn't make any move to follow, she gestured to the aurors standing outside. Two of them walked in, moving to flank each of my sides and started ushering me out.

I dug my heels into the ground, refusing to move.

"N- no, you can't take me, I deserve- no, I demand to know- what is happening? Tell me- what have I done?"

The burlier auror of the two pulled me forward jerkily making me lose my grip on the ground.

They dragged me forward, a bit roughly this time, and continued their way out of the cabin. I protested and struggled the whole way, scared out of my mind at what was happening.

Which bring to the current moment- chaos.

"PREPOSTEROUS!" boss's voice met my ears. She was also being pulled out of her office by aurors. "This is absolutely ridiculous! I demand to see Cornelius right now- DON'T TOUCH ME! You can't do this. I'm Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures! You can't manhandle me like this! I'll send you all to Azkaban! I'm Head of-"

"Yeah yeah, head of the department of regulation and control of magical creatures, we know," Amelia Bones said, rubbing the bridge of her nose wearily, "Not that you would let us forget. Shouting it every five minutes."

My blood ran cold at the sight of the woman.

If Amelia Bones was involved in this, then this was something big.

I saw many people being pulled out of their offices, each struggling and shouting. I recognised most of them. They were all extremely high ranking workers, having close proximity to Umbridge.

"Take them to the interrogation room," Amelia ordered.

"NO! No- I demand to see Cornelius, I demand to talk to my lawyer. LET ME GO BONES! I swear I'll make your life hell for this. When I become undersecretary- I'LL MAKE YOU PAY! You just wait, blood traitor! I'll make y-"

Amelia flicked her wand silently.

Umbridge's moved her mouth, trying to get her words out but Amelia Bones' silencing charm held itself firmly in place.

"Threatening ministry workers, abuse of power and blood purity sympathizing- add those to the list," Bones whispered to the auror beside her. The auror nodded and scribbled it down into a folder.

Umbridge's eye widened, silently screaming at the woman, her short form shaking with rage.

The aurors dragged us out of the room. People stared at us as we walked by, and unlike most stares I got that week, these were not filled with respect or admiration.

"Let me go. L-let me go. I haven't done anything! I'm innocent..."

I didn't just direct my voice towards the aurors, whose ears were falling deaf to my voice, I also directed it towards the people around. Begging, hoping that they would believe me!

We were all taken towards the Department of Law Enforcement which Bones was the head of the department for.

The aurors experiencedly navigated through the maze of hallways and reached a room which I had only visited when I was training to be an auror.

They opened the door and led everyone in.

People shouted, some demanding to see their lawyers, others threatening action against the whole department while the remainder were silenced, much like their boss, and were shouting wordlessly while glaring at any passerby.

I was a part of none of the groups.

My mouth was firmly pressed together.

I had seen these kinds of reactions from the other perspective, I had seen how they did nothing but aggravate the aurors and law enforcers. And now that I was out of the public eye I felt my need to protest diminish.

All I could feel was a cold fear.

My eyes darted around the room nervously not really taking anything in.

I fidgeted with the ends of my robes, my fingers fumbling due to the shivering of my whole body.

The influx of people finally stopped.

I could see a few people from other departments as well. My scrambled brain couldn't seem to connect the faces to their names though.

Amelia Bones then walked into the room, a group of aurors behind her.

Including Moody.

The voices of the room's occupants grew, demands thrown around the air like a quaffle in a quidditch match. Even the glares of the silenced occupants sharpened.

Moody let out a bang from his wand, effectively silencing the group. His blue eye whizzing to see every nook of the room.

"Hush up now. Don't get your knickers in a twist," Amelia Bones said, folding her arms in front of her chest. A strictly neutral look rested upon her face, though her eyes glimmered with annoyance, "You'll all get chances to send a letter- contact your lawyers then- but rest assured you won't be able to weasel your way out of this."

Umbridge jumped up at this. A scowl twisted into her toad-like face, waving her fist angrily. Angrily mouthing something which no one could understand.

Amelia waved her wand, releasing the silencing charm upon Umbridge (though she seemed a bit reluctant to do so).

"This is unacceptable," Umbridge said, "Let me out right now or you'll have to face the wrath of Cornelius himself."

"Minister Fudge has already agreed, and in-fact approved of this questioning," Amelia said.

Boss gaped at the woman, "N-no... that's not possible. He must not know of my involvement. If he did he wouldn't- yes- he wouldn't ever-"

"For Morgana's sake," Amelia Bones exasperatedly. She turned her head towards the aurors behind her, "Just give them some parchment and quills. We'll start the questioning in half an hour. Make sure no one gets out till then."

With that she and Moody turned around leaving the room, leaving me amidst shouts and anxiety.

My anxiety.


	29. Law and Order

**Here you go!**

**Song for this chapter 'Law and Order: Full Theme Song' from Law and Order (obviously).**

**Idk why I chose this song! So cliche.**

* * *

"Settle down, settle down!" Minister Fudge exclaimed, addressing the courtroom with a stern expression, "Settle down now! Quiet. Settle!"

The members of the Wizengamot hushed their talking, bringing their attention to the court and its inhabitants.

"Well then, let's start," he continued, "Disciplinary hearing of the twenty-ninth of November."

Fudge's voice carried across the room with a slight echo. Madame Bones next to the Minister sat with her back straight, a monocle on her eye, attentive as always. Next to Fudge sat a short, plump man with greying hair and squinted brown eyes. Once Fudge started speaking, he dipped his quill into the inkpot and fervently started noting everything down on the parchment in front of him, his brows furrowed in concentration.

I sat beside James, Sirius, Remus and Lily, arms together in my lap as I sat clad in a simple grey cloak.

A few days ago James had received a letter from Lily. He had read through it, his brows furrowing as it passed each line. Sirius had noticed and asked what it was about.

He had read the letter out loud. It was short and simple. As if Lily hadn't been sure how to write the letter.

She had written about a hearing with she had been asked to attend. A hearing against Umbridge and some members of her staff.

Including Peter.

She had asked James to accompany her. For support and to ensure that she wouldn't do something she regretted later. James had looked miserable, clearly not wanting to face Peter again, but he needed to be there for Lily so he had agreed.

Sirius, Remus had hesitantly asked if them going along would be of any help to James, and so did I (being the great friend that I am). James had agreed.

And here we were.

"Into offences committed under the Ministerial Code of Conduct, Anti-Corruption Code of Conduct, the 4156 Penal Code, Treason Act of 1303, Anti-Discrimination Law and War Crime act of 1909 as a whole by Ms Dolores Jane Umbridge, Faeduscus Barney Selwyn..." He rattled off the names of a bunch of highly renowned ministry officials which were to be held in trial for the day. The last name that he said was the one that caused the four sitting beside me to stiffen, "And Mr Peter Phobus Pettigrew."

Remus let out a shuddering breath. Lily put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly in response as she bit her lip.

The Minister then continued, "Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic; Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts and Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law-Enforcement. Court Scribe, Apollo Brinjer."

"First Defendant, Ms Dolores Jane Umbridge!" Amelia announced, arranging the paper in front of her.

The woman was brought from the stands on the side of the room opposite to me. A chair was present in the middle, magical shackles intertwined with it, which she was to sit on.

"Cornelius please- I didn't do anything, Cornelius, please! You know me. You know I wouldn't do this!" Umbridge pleaded as her protesting limbs were forced into the seat. She clutched the armrest when she finally sat down, her nails digging in, "Please Cornelius!"

"The charges" Fudge boomed coldly, interrupting the Umbridge, "against the accused are as follows: acceptance of bribes in the form of money and gifts from both members and non-members of the Ministry; falsifying and modification of official documents for personal interests; abuse of power as Head of the Department of Care and Regulation of Magical Creatures and former-worker in the Office of Accidental Magic; discriminating against halfbloods, muggleborns and magical beings such as goblins, werewolves, vampires, giants, centaurs and minority groups like half breeds such as half-giants, half-elves, half-goblins among others," Fudge paused, taking a deep breath, "Forging illegal laws and regulations aimed at personal gain and at harming individuals and other minority groups; spreading disinformation around pre-existing laws and forged laws both illegally and legally; practising treason and anti-nationalism by assisting Death Eaters in the First Wizarding War including breach of classified information."

He finally looked up. The members of the Wizengamot were looking between him and Umbridge with their eyes blown wide, murmuring amongst themselves with incredulity.

"IT'S A LIE! THAT'S ALL A LIE!" Umbridge screeched. She accusingly pointed a pudgy finger towards Amelia, shaking it with vigour, "SHE'S LYING-"

"Calm yourself, Ms Umbridge," Fudge pronounced strictly, a frown on his face.

"You have to believe me Cornelius," Umbridge lowered her volume trying to sweeten it as it shook with desperation, "You have to. That old bat-" Umbridge spat out enormously, "is just jealous! She's jealous that I'm becoming your undersecretary and she's not. This is all a ruse! A PROPAGANDA! To pull me down, to bring me down! Please Cornelius! BELIEVE ME-"

"We ensure you Ms Umbridge-" Dumbledore finally spoke up, leaning forward in his seat, his white beard swaying with the motion. The twinkle in his eyes was dimmer than usual (though still present) as he spoke in a calming tone, "that you shall be judged with the utmost fairness and caution."

"But Headmaster, you don't understand-"

"Surely an innocent woman, as you claim to be, should have no reason to panic," Dumbledore said. He then extended a hand towards the members of the jury, "Or do you question the wisdom of the members of the wizengamot?"

The members whispered amongst themselves, murmuring their agreement.

Ah yes. Cause the judicial system in the wizarding world is just fabulous, isn't it?

Like the lack of hearing in the first wizarding war.

Or the lack of attorneys.

Or the vagueness of the procedure in a courtroom.

Just... fabulous.

"No," Umbridge said, her eyes darting nervously among the still whispering members, "of course not. But-"

"Then it's settled," Dumbledore said, "We should continue with the hearing, shouldn't we Minister?"

Fudge sent the older professor a grateful look.

Amelia, who was sitting beside them, just looked bored of the whole ordeal as she (much like me) was impatiently waiting for the actual trial to start.

Fudge cleared his throat.

"Yes, yes," Fudge said, rubbing the tips of his finger together, "Very well then- let's start. Madame Bones, if you will."

"Yes Minister," Amelia said, rolling her eyes to essentially scream 'Finally!' into the room without making a single noise.

She leaned forward, peering down at Umbridge from behind the table. The toad glared back at the woman, her fists clenched as she seethed.

"Let's start then," Amelia said, ignoring the steam billowing out of Umbridge's ears, "The first accusation against the accused-"

* * *

**Sup! **

**Yeah, I put the author's note at the end of this chapter instead of the beginning. Why? Cause I didn't want to write this at the beginning and reveal the content of the chapter. So anyways...**

**I had wanted to write the whole trial portion, including Umbridge and Peter's portions, into one big chapter. But it turned into TOO long of a chapter. So I'll probably have to divide it into like 3-4 chapters.**

**Also, naming people is so much fun! It brings me endless joy. Like the scribe- Apollo. I just imagined like the PJO version of Apollo- young and lively and loud, and then use his name to name the most boring person in this trial. And then furthermore turn the scribe old and quiet. I laughed for 10 minutes straight after I thought of that (Idk why. I just have a weird sense of humour. Bear with me).**

**And making that one guy's middle name Barney. I just imagined the actual Barney in his place, ya know the purple dragon. And I laughed so hard. Too bad I couldn't make that his first name. It wouldn't sound pureblood-y enough.**

**Now let's talk about the Wizarding World's judicial system. It's so annoying that it makes my blood boil! It's like Rowling took the worst aspects of judicial systems all over the world and merged them into one. When I was reading it I felt like I was reading less of an actual trial, but more of what kids think a trial is supposed to be like. And there are no attorneys! WTH?! At first, when I was writing this (taking reference with the canon), I thought that Dumbledore was defending Harry. But then I reached that part of the book and Dumbledore literally introduces himself as the WITNESS! Now, I don't know much about judicial systems and stuff but I'm pretty sure the witness doesn't defend the accused unless it's in their official statement. They certainly don't strut around the courtroom as if they are a lawyer (now I've got an image of Dumbledore strutting and I just can't- ).**

**Anyways that's enough of a rant.**


	30. Oh You're So Busted

**Ladies and Gentleman~ you could have been anywhere in the world right now but you're here with me on quotev reading fanfic and making my day! **

**So, presenting to you- the ONE, the ONLY...**

**DUMBRIDGE!**

**P.S. Don't worry, we won't be going through the whole trial (cause that would be pretty long..). We'll only be going through what I consider are the important parts. This chapter is more there to set the mood of how the trial is supposed to be throughout.**

**Song for this chapter is 'Busted' from Phineas and Ferb.**

**P.P.S. I found this song so hilariously fitting as I listened to it while I was on a childhood show revisit marathon, that I had to put it on. I even based the chapter title on this song even though it has nothing in common with the chapter as a whole! Though you could easily imagine Candace/Vanessa as Mica/Amelia or Amelia/Mica. I reiterate, I have a weird sense of humour.**

* * *

"Let's start then. The first accusation against the accused is of corruption and abuse of power-"

"LIES! ALL LIES!"

"-Under which we shall also consider charges pertaining to bribery-"

"I'M INNOCENT! CORNELIUS!"

"-involving both attaining and offering of bribes."

"PROPAGANDA! LIES AND PROPAGANDA!"

"Dolores calm down!" Fudge boomed, finally losing his cool, "Or you shall be silenced!"

Umbridge looked at the minister affronted as if she were a parent looking at a rebellious child.

I'm glad she doesn't have any actual children though, the poor kid would have a disastrous life with her as a parent.

Amelia took a deep breath, a hint of satisfaction in her eyes whilst looking at Umbridge. She opened her folder- aka my folder- and moved to a certain page.

"Ms Umbridge," she said, looking up from the folder to face the woman clad in pink, "In my hands rests a list of persons employed and fired directly by you and- " the sound of parchment filled the room as Amelia pulled out another bundle of sheets, "-a list of rejected hopefuls applying for jobs in your department within your term as its head- a copy of these two should be present in the folder in front of each wizengamot member for further scrutinisation."

A chorus of shuffling of papers was heard as the wizengamot members opened their folders and pulled out the sheets which were being referred to, the only exceptions being Fudge and Dumbledore, who as interrogators already had been told the contents of the folder.

Even the stands for witnesses and spectators, where we were sitting, had folders in front of each of its members.

I picked the one in front of me, as did the Marauders and Lily, though I did it more for show.

Amelia turned back to Umbridge and continued in the same tone, "Along that list is the grades of these people whilst in school and the other list of qualification that they have submitted for use for the ministry. Now-" she said, leaning forward, "it's curious to see that many ministry workers who had been employed by you are seemingly less qualified than many rejected," she tilted her head to the side.

"Unlike you, I base my selection off talents rather than a bunch of grades," Umbridge spat out. She then turned to Fudge and Dumbledore, putting on a sickeningly sweet expression, "I interview them- you know, to test their merit on my own!"

"Ahh yes, interviews," Amelia said, a slight taunting edge to her voice, "The interviews in which no one but you and the person being interviewed is allowed to stay, giving you full control over the selections. And it's interesting to see how only some of these applicants are called for interviews and most called are usually from influential families."

Murmurs filled the room at Amelia's words.

Umbridge clutched her armrest, looking at the members with fear in her eyes.

"It's just a coincidence," Umbridge blurted out, "Nothing more."

I wonder how she thought that would convince anyone.

Amelia raised her eyebrow at the woman's words.

"Very well then," she spoke, "I would like to guide the committee's attention to another report we have in the folder. It's two lists of extractions and submissions of money from Gringotts accounts: the first, regarding Ms Umbridge's accounts and the second, from a few influential families, including members who have been employed by Umbridge across various points of time."

Again the rustling of paper could be heard

"Comparing the two lists will give the members an interesting result," Amelia said as Umbridge's face grew paler and paler by the second, "You see, there is an intriguing pattern surrounding the extraction of money from the families and the submission of money into Umbridge's account. The time period in which this happens also coincides with the firing and employment of members which we had mentioned in the previous lists. The amounts of these extractions and submissions mysteriously also seem to be of the same amount."

Surely, enough the lists matched in timelines, no more than a day or two away from each other.

Another round of murmurs passed through the occupants of the room.

"Now we can again scream at the top of our lungs over how this is all a 'coincidence'," Amelia said sarcastically, "OR we could conclude, by connecting this information, that more than Umbridge herself, that money is deciding who is and who isn't working in her department." By the end of the sentence, a harsh edge had entered Amelia's voice emphasised by the whispers of the wizengamot.

Amelia gave her final word on the subject and then leaned back into her chair, the perfect image of a woman who knew she had the committee on her side.

"Is there anything you'd like to say, Ms Umbridge?" Dumbledore asked, holding up his promise of making this trial fair.

Umbridge fumbled over her words as she tried to say something in her defence, her words coming out as a garbled mess of, "No- but- this is not- I didn't- she's- this is wrong- I don't-" and so on.

Understandably so. I mean I would all flustered too if all my dirty linen was slowly being exposed to the world.

"That's enough Ms Umbridge," Fudge said with a sigh when the woman in front of him showed no signs of stopping her gibberish rants, "Do either of my fellow interrogators have anything left to say?"

Neither did.

Though the other members of the wizengamot surely had something to say as they whispered amongst themselves in an unbroken rhythm, filling the previously silent courtroom with a continuous buzz.

"Very well then," Fudge said, muffling the whispers in the room with one boom of his voice, "Let's call upon a vote."

Dumbledore leaned forward at this, and announced to the whole room, "Those in favour of clearing the accused of these first set of charges?"

A few hands rose warily into the air.

"And those in favour of conviction?"

A majority of the hands rose in the air as Umbridge could do nothing more than frantically look around in panic.

"Very well then- the accused has been convicted."

Fudge leaned back onto his chair with a sigh, pushing his glasses up his nose leaving a red indent in its previous position.

The hearing was far from over though, more accusation to be thrown around and more accused to be convicted.

"Ms Bones," Dumbledore said, gesturing to the woman in question to move the trial along.

Amelia smirked, as she leaned forward to state the second accusation, not even bothering to hide her enjoyment.


	31. Always Do Your Homework Kids

**Sorry, it took so much time to update this chapter, I was a bit unsure as to how to write this one. A part of me wanted to write another section of Umbridge's hearing chapter and then start Peter's hearing in the next chapter while the other part wanted to start with Peter's hearing and briefly mention the previous hearing...**

**It's clear which part I chose.**

**And to make up for that time I've written an extra-long chapter!**

**The song for this chapter is 'You're a Mean One, Mr Grinch' from ****How the Grinch Stole Christmas.**

**This song didn't necessarily match the tone of the chapter but it definitely matches Umbridge so here we go (tip, you might want o put it on loop, it's a bit short for this chapter).**

* * *

Two hours had passed since the beginning of the hearing, Umbridge still sat on the chair in front of the dais, her eyes filled with so much fear and franticness that I wouldn't be surprised if the emotions started sloshing out like an overflowing cup of tea. The eyes of the members of the Wizengamot were glazed over with impatience and boredom occasionally darting towards the clock hanging onto the wall eagerly waiting for the break to arrive.

The only exemption to this was Amelia Bones who with each proven accusation was filled with new zeal and excitement which, not to brag, was every accusation Umbridge had been charged with.

What can I say, I always do my homework.

Lily's role in Umbridge's portion of the hearing, which consisted of her explaining the Werewolf laws- how they discriminated against the creatures, how they differed from the way they were portrayed to the public, how they had been wrongfully explained to the minster and the members of the Wizengamot who had passed it into legislation, and how they had been illegally amended through the years to make them increasingly prejudiced; was over. She still had to stay throughout the hearing though in case she needed to clear out anything else. The three members of the Marauders and I also stayed along.

But if the ways their eyes kept glancing towards a certain mousy boy was anything to go by, I had a feeling they wouldn't have left even if they had the choice.

"The last accusations for the accused is the practice of treason and anti-nationalism by assisting Death Eaters in the First Wizarding War including breach of classified information."

The attention of the members of the room perked up at this, whispers rising again. I could almost hear them thinking, 'Finally something exciting!'

Dumbledore, the leader of the light during the war, leaned forward. The tips of his long, nimble fingers pressed together as he looked at the Umbridge over his half-moon shaped glasses.

"Lies. All lies, please-" Umbridge barely rasped out over the other voices in the room, her throat raw from all the shouting she had done within the first half-hour of the hearing. Her words held no conviction or energy behind them as if she had already accepted that she was doomed.

"SILENCE!"

Fudge's voice echoed through the room effectively diminishing the sound in the room.

Satisfied with the response Fudge gave a small nod before turning towards Amelia and gesturing for her to continue.

The calm smirk on Amelia's face marked a sharp contrast to the tense and anticipating nature of the room. She cleared her throat, adjusting the monocle on her face and pulled out some sheets from the folder.

She then looked back at Umbridge whose glare hadn't diminished since the beginning of the hearing.

"Miss Umbridge," her controlled voice started, "had you- in any form or by any means- been in contact with Mr Augustus Rookwood during the first wizarding war?"

"I'd worked with him briefly," Umbridge rasped out, "much as you had, Amelia." Umbridge spat out the word Amelia with as much venom in her voice as she could muster.

Amelia just hummed in response, unperturbed by the tone.

"Interesting," she started, "And you had no other contact with him?"

Umbridge glanced nervously at the folder in front of Amelia. My eyes focused on a bead of sweat that rolled down her forehead, trailing down her cheek, reaching her chin before dropping off into oblivion.

"I might have met him at some parties or get-together or something," Umbridge spoke nervously, trying to sound as diplomatic as possible.

"Parties during the war?" Amelia asked mock-innocently, raising her eyebrows.

"JUST CAUSE YOU WEREN'T INVITED DOESN'T MEAN THERE WEREN'T ANY," Umbridge screamed, her face swelling red with anger. She stood up from the seat but the magically levitating chains entangled with the chair clamped themselves around her wrists and pulled her back. She struggled against them but the chains didn't even rattle.

I think it was safe to assume though that Umbridge wasn't actually angry about the parties.

Bones rolled her eyes, "It was a rhetorical question, Ms Umbridge- I was merely startled by your priorities."

Umbridge's cheeks swelled further till they were practically bulging out of her face, marking her comparison to a toad with smoother clarity.

"I- I don't understand the point of this," Umbridge spluttered out hoarsely, addressing the whole committee, "I d-didn't even have a powerful position at that time, h- how- WHAT could I have helped the death eaters with?"

Murmurs of agreement passed through the room.

"That is correct," Bones admitted, "You weren't powerful back then, but he-who-must-not-be-named already had a powerful spy- Rookwood. He, however, did need someone in the lower level, someone who could tell him the grass-root level operations, someone who would be easily overlooked by law enforcers..."

Another chorus of murmurs rose as the committee took in Amelia's words.

"And isn't it curious," Amelia continued, "That you seem to have connections with so many pureblood families, particularly those who had been suspected to be death eaters, even though you're a halfblood from a non-influential family?"

Umbridge looked at Bones furiously as the rest of the Wizengamot exchanged looks.

It was common knowledge that most of these so-called 'Pureblood' families only associated themselves with other influential purebloods. Rarely did they allow any halfblood to associate with them. The only halfbloods that were accepted into their company were usually Slytherins who were either descendants from highly influential families or halfbloods who were powerful or cunning enough to be considered 'worthy'.

Unfortunately for Umbridge, except for being a Slytherin, she didn't match any of those criterias.

"This is ridiculous! You're just throwing around evidence and hoping one of them bloody matches! No evidence- I'm telling you all, she has no evidence! I wish to plea for some time, I'm sure my lawyer and I can come up with substantial proof against all those- those claims. Even the previous ones! Yes, all I need is time-"

"Calm down Ms Umbridge," Amelia said bemused, "You had been given enough TIME to come up with your defence, besides I wasn't finished."

"BUT-"

"Calm down Dolores!" Fudge snapped with a glare.

Umbridge shut her mouth, pressing her lips together into a thin line of rage.

The edges of Amelia's lips quirked upwards upon seeing Umbridge's expression before she quickly composed herself and continued with her questioning.

"I would like to remind the committee that Ms Umbridge has stated that she has no personal correspondence with Mr Rookwood, a man who is known to have passed information from the ministry to you-know-who and his supporters. Now, Ms Umbridge do you recognise this?"

Amelia held up a piece of parchment. Some writing seemed to be visible on the parchment though its content wasn't visible to me.

Apparently, it wasn't visible to Umbridge as well as she looked at Amelia confused.

"No?" Amelia said, tilting her head to one side, "Well this, is a letter or to be more precise, a letter between Ms Umbridge and, Mr Rookwood-"

"WHAT?! THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" Umbridge interrupted, her voice cracking in between due to the strain of its volume.

More whispers, this time more gossipy and judgemental passed through the room.

"No need to lie Umbridge," Amelia continued coolly, "I have all the proof right here. In your own handwriting. Containing your own signature."

"No!" Dolores shook her head frantically, "It's not possible! It can't be possible-"

Amelia looked at the panicked woman. She sighed catching the attention of many members of the wizengamot nearby who looked in shock as the interrogator's expression softened.

"Dolores," Amelia started softly over Umbridge's rant, "Dolores!" again Umbridge didn't pay attention to the woman.

"DOLORES!" Amelia raised her voice slightly, finally stopping the mentioned woman's rant. Umbridge looked at Amelia still mumbling something under her breath with a hardened expression

Amelia released another sigh.

"Confess," Amelia said as gently as possible, "I'm giving you a chance Dolores! Confess! Cause if I read these letter first, if these accusations come true- then," Amelia choked up, "Then the only possible sentence is- is... the dementor's kiss.."

Gasps echoed across the room, I saw Fudge's face drain of colour. Dolores stopped her mumbling and looked at Amelia with wide frightened eyes.

"But if you confess- we could be slightly more lenient, confess and we can prevent the kiss," Amelia continued earnestly, "No one over here wants to sentence anyone with the dementor's kiss. It's a ghastly thing to think about- and even worse to witness believe me. So I'm giving you a chance Dolores, one confession- that's all it takes."

I saw Dolores' bottom lip tremble while her eyes started brimming with tears.

She looked around the room frantically as if looking for some form of escape, some form of refuge. But even as she did so her eyes were filled with hopeless despair. There was no way she could get out of this now and she knew that.

Her eyes finally landed on Amelia, the only person in the room who was offering her some form of leniency, some form of alternative.

She sighed.

"Fine," Umbridge said, her voice wobbling with emotion, "I- I'll tell you."

Amelia leaned back satisfactorily as the Wizengamot looked between them with increased intrigue.

"I s-still don't know h-how you got your hands on th-those," Umbridge gestured towards the letter angrily as a few tears tumbled down her cheeks, "I'm sure I had b-burnt them all. That idiot Rookwood m-must have left one out!" she growled, her voice rising slightly due to her frustration. A few gasps echoed across the room upon the insinuation of that sentence, highlighted with a low buzz of murmurs.

Umbridge took a deep breath then, trying to calm herself down.

"I-it's true," she said, "The accusations are t-true!" The gasps increased in quantity and volume.

Fudge slumped back with eyes wide. "Merlin," he muttered out, taking his glasses off. A huge part of the room had a similar reaction.

The other half looked victorious and began excitedly murmuring among themselves. I heard a man loudly whisper, "Blimey! We caught a spy!" as if the Wizengamot had done anything other than sit and listen to Amelia catch the spy.

As Fudge was too shocked to continue to keep control of the meeting, his head almost visually reeling, Dumbledore decided to step forward.

He held up his hand as he had done a million times in Hogwarts, silencing the whole Wizengamot with that one motion. The committee's eyes had now travelled to him.

The wizened professor slowly brought his hand down and turned his attention to the accused.

"Elaborate Ms Umbridge."

Tears had started freely falling down Umbridge's cheeks and she was letting out loud sobs, "I- I was s-supposed to become- become friends w-with junior m-members from a-all the departments in the m-ministry and g-get information. R-Rookwood also gave m- gave me an invisibility cloak wh-whenever he was b-busy. I w-was supposed t-to sneak in-into different parts of the m-ministry and g-get information. He promised me riches- he promised me p-power in return. He s-said he w-would honour me like a-any other death eater. A-and I d-didn't even need to get that u-ugly tattoo on my a-arm. I didn't n-need to m-mingle with those d-disgusting half breeds l-like Greyback!"

Sirius put a hand on Remus' shoulders. I'm not sure if that was because of the fact that Umbridge had called werewolves 'disgusting half breeds' or because of the mention of Fenrir Greyback.

Regardless Remus gave Sirius a grateful smile.

"Thank you, Ms Umbridge," Dumbledore said, "Is there anything else you would like to add Ms Bones?" Amelia answered in negative.

"Very well then," Dumbledore continued, "If that's all then I believe we need to call upon a vote. All those in favour of clearing the accused of these last set of charges?"

One hand rose.

The owner of the hand looked at the remainder of the room's occupants who were staring at him. He sheepishly brought his hand down.

"And all those in favour of conviction?"

To no one's surprise, a majority of the room's hands rose.

"Ms Umbridge has been convicted," Dumbledore announced, confirming the notion of the committee.

Aurors who had been standing near the door of the room immediately moved forward.

One of them waved their wand non-verbally and swiftly freed Umbridge from the chains which had yet to let her go. Two of the remaining aurors then silently guided her sobbing form towards a set of empty seats near the end of the room where she would have to wait till the end of the hearing for her sentences to be announced.

The rest of the hearing continued much as it had done before. More men and women were brought forward, rarely bearing accusation not connected to Umbridge's.

There were only 15 people left in the accused stand when the bell rang, signalling the start of the lunch break.

I saw Bones sigh as the rest of the committee thundered out, excitedly gossiping amongst themselves.

As I walked out I saw that none of the convicted and accused were allowed to leave, surrounded by aurors who brought them their food.

My blue eyes focused on Peter whose face had grown incredibly pale and whose body was hunched forward as it to he was trying to personify his animagus form. He was nervously chewing the nails of one of his hands while the fingers of the other tapped his knee with an uneven tempo. He was staring intently at the floor, much as he had done throughout the hearing.

He hadn't looked up to meet the stares of his former-friends. He hadn't looked up to see his boss bawling in the corner of the room. He hadn't look up even as the aurors had handed him his food.

No, he had never looked up.

Not much had changed then.


	32. How Are You Not A Slytherin?

**Hello all! Sorry for the late update...**

**The song for this chapter is 'You're Welcome' from Moana.**

**Again I don't know why I chose this song, it just gave me very this-chapter's Amelia vibes.**

**Anyways on with the story!**

* * *

We flitted out into the corridor joined with the courtroom.

From there many people went towards their office, some went out of the ministry to the cafes and restaurants out on the streets of London and some went to the small cafeteria in the ministry in a corner of the Atrium.

The three marauders, Lily and I were part of the latter.

We headed towards the cafeteria and I ordered myself a choco mocha. The others also ordered similar snacks, already having eaten a hearty breakfast at Hogwarts.

A tense silence filtered through the group, only interrupted by the occasional casual comments, highlighted to an uncomfortable level by the bustling sounds surrounding us.

Maybe I was the only one who thought the silence was uncomfortable cause the others didn't seem that bothered by it, sitting with ease on the metal chairs. Or maybe they were too busy in their own inner turmoil to notice the thickness in the air.

Deciding not to dwell on the lack of conversation on the table, I let my thoughts drift.

A part of me was left confused after the hearing.

'Why?', you might ask.

You see, most of the proofs and evidence that Amelia possessed had been found by me and handed to her on a silver platter in the form of the folder.

Except one.

The letters between Rookwood and Umbridge.

I hadn't even known that the letters had survived, sure that if they had talked they would have destroyed the letters immediately afterwards. It made no sense for the letters to be left around, especially from Rookwood's side who may have questionable morals but was extremely smart when it came to these things.

That was why I had put in Umbridge's other crimes as well, they were much easier to prove and in-case her treason wasn't proved there were enough crimes to still give her the same sentence.

But how did Amelia get her hands on these letters? I don't question her ability to find them, but the circumstances in which she could have found them were suspicious.

It has been a mere two days since I'd given the folder to her, so unless she already had information regarding these letters it seemed impossible for her to gather them in such a short amount of time especially considering she was handling all the details of this hearing.

So the two other options could have been that she had information regarding these letters already or she had the letters themselves already in her possession.

But neither of the above made sense.

If she already had the letters in her possession why didn't she hand them over to the ministry before? It was more than enough evidence to put Umbridge in Azkaban for a lifetime.

And if she had known about the letters' existence then why didn't she raid Rookwood's house earlier? She could easily ask the ministry for permission due to Rookwood being a renowned death eater.

My feet jumped up and down nervously as I thought of all these things, my curiosity shining and burning like a firecrab in my chest.

After about 15 minutes of fidgeting, I couldn't take it anymore, I got up from her chair and muttered an excuse about having to use the loo before rushing off.

I walked into the woman's bathroom near the cafeteria away from the gawking eyes. I let the charms on my looks drop as I entered an unoccupied stall and then muttered the disillusionment charm over myself.

I stepped out of the bathroom as discreetly as I could and headed towards Madame Bones office, hoping that the woman would be there.

I reached the office and pushed it open roughly making the blonde Hufflepuff jump in her seat in a deja-vu manner.

This time though, before she could ask for who was there I had already dropped the charm on my body.

"Oh Merlin," Amelia huffed out as I appeared, slumping back into her chair, a hand over her chest, "It's just you."

"Where did you get the letter from?" I asked abruptly.

Amelia took a few deep breaths as she calmed her heart. She raised her eyebrows as she said, "Not beating around the bush, are we?"

I shook my head irritably. I was already risking a lot by choosing to stay in this form while the Marauders and Dumbledore were in the same building.

"I don't have time for this, just tell me," I huffed.

Amelia, having completely calmed herself, took on a cool and collected persona as she leisurely leaned her elbows against her desk, "And why should I? I needed you to attest in the trial and you refused to, saying you were busy," she then pointed her hand towards me, "But you seem free enough to stand here right now- demanding answers."

I pressed the bridge of my nose letting out a sigh.

"For Morgana's sake... there is a reason I couldn't come to the hearing," I removed the hand from my face as I continued speaking to her, "Besides, I knew you handle the case easily on your own." When Amelia made no move of relenting I pointed towards her, "And don't forget- you owe me for bringing in all the proof."

Amelia conceded at this point as she shrugged.

"Fair enough."

She stood up from her chair and walked over to one of the cabinets on her wall. She reached inside and pulled out the folder- my folder- and riffled through the pages until she brought out the letter.

She handed it to me wordlessly as I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

I hadn't asked for the letter, just where it had come from.

"Read it," Amelia said, gesturing towards the letter as she sat down on her seat.

I opened my mouth to ask her where she had got it from- again- but closed it upon seeing the intent look on her face giving me a feeling that she knew what she was doing.

I unfolded the off-white parchment in my hand, tinted yellow and crumpled due to its age, and scanned its contents.

Dear Auntie Melia,

How are you? I hope you are doing well. Did you hear? I'm starting Hogwarts this year. YAY!

I'm so excited! Dad really wants me to get into Ravenclaw like him but I'm really, really hoping to get into Hufflepuff like you and mum (partially because I heard it's near the kitchen so bonus points for the midnight snacks)!

Did you like the owl? Mum bought it for me as a gift for my 11th birthday. I've named it Mesha, I don't really know why, it just sounded n-

I stopped reading and looked at Amelia who was giving me an amused smirk.

"You gave me the wrong letter," I said growing more and more annoyed by the second.

"Nope," Amelia said, the smirk still present on her face, "I didn't."

I huffed. "This is a letter from-" I looked down at the letter to check the name of the sender, "some Susan Bones. It's not THE letter."

Amelia's expression didn't change as she leaned back.

"It is the letter," she looked at me as she put more emphasis on the next words, "The letter I showed the Wizengamot."

I looked at her with a mixture of confusion and annoyance. Was this punishment for me not coming to the hearing?

Why wasn't she showing me the letter between Rookwood and Umbridge? Or better yet, telling me how she had gotten her hands on the letter! Why was she showing me this letter of some girl going to Hogwarts, it's not like she would have shown this to the Wizenga-

My eyes widened.

Amelia looked at me knowingly as she noticed my face flowing with realisation.

"You faked it," I breathed out as my brain connected the dots, "You faked the letter."

Amelia smirk grew into a full-blown grin.

I looked at Amelia, a person I had always thought to be lawfully good, in shock as she looked at me as if she hadn't just revealed that she had forged proof in an official hearing in the ministry.

She had taken a big gamble.

It could have been possible that Umbridge and Rookwood had never exchanged any letters, it could have been possible that Umbridge wouldn't have accepted Amelia's offer to 'help', it could have been that somebody from the committee could have demanded to see the letter much as I had just done.

Amelia could have been- could still be- thrown into Azkaban for presenting false evidence in the trial.

But she seemed unconcerned, her face completely relaxed as she looked at me, the grin having dimmed a bit but still brightly present on her face.

"Why did you show me this?"

It was a valid question. She could have easily gotten me thrown out of her office. Telling me just presented the information as a liability towards her.

"As you said, I owed you. Now I don't," she said, "Besides, I refuse to believe that you had gotten all that information without getting your hands dirty as well."

She had no idea.

I smirked, "True." I handed the letter back to Amelia.

I wanted to say more, discuss more on what she was gonna do, if she had any other tricks up her sleeves. But I knew the Marauders would notice soon enough that I was gone.

"I'll take my leave then Madame Bones," I said and she nodded in farewell. I turned around to leave but then paused turning around to face the blonde again as she looked at me questioningly.

"Remind me again," I said as I looked at her, "Why you're not a Slytherin?"

Amelia just laughed in response.

* * *

**Sup y'all.**

**I just wanted to inform you guys that I won't be updating for a while due to my tests coming up. I'll try to find time in between and update as often as possible but between the tests, my other stories and the fact that I have just become the director of MUN(search it up) at my school recently makes my schedule pretty packed, not to mention that our teachers made the board of director for MUN pretty late due to covid so we're already on a tight schedule ****which was why this chapter came out late as well.**

**Bringing in good news, my story has been nominated in the Niffler Awards on quotev this**** year in the categories - 'Most Original Twist', 'Most Original Plotline' and 'Most Original Chapter Titles'. Please go and vote guys! The voting will start on 4rth September and end on 15th September 2020 and also nominate the stories you really like.**

**Btw I just realised that if I had to nominate my story for any award based on the time era I would have no idea how to, cause this story is based both in the Marauders Era and in the Golden Trio Era lol.**


	33. Tampering at its Finest

**Guess who's back! Back again, Shady's back! Tell a friend ;)**

**Woohooo I'm freee!**

**I'll be honest, I had to reread the previous chapters to remind myself of what was going on in the story and ya know, get into the mood!**

**And I took the previous weekend off cause the exams just took a huge toll. I've noticed that I either do really well in exams or painfully average, there's no other alternative. I suppose doing average isn't bad, but when you've been a straight A's kid for most of your life average feels kinda like failing. But I was happy to see that I've reached that point where it doesn't affect me as much as it did before!**

**Could I actually be getting over my Gifted Kid Syndrome?**

**Song for this chapter 'Liar' by Camilla Cabello.**

**Anyways, on with the story!**

* * *

The hearing droned on, another blanket of boredom settling softly over the room.

It was intriguing to see how much disinterest the lawmakers of our country had in actually upholding the law, in convicting accused to their rightful punishments, in providing justice and fairness.

After it had become clear in the case of the first few accused that all the accusations thrown by Amelia were coming true, nobody bothered listening to the other ones, automatically voting yes for the conviction at the end unless the accused was someone in their knowing.

I almost scoffed at the informality of the whole process. The whole system was a joke.

To be fair though, it did seem to come in handy to me right now.

"Last defendant for the day," Fudge announced, rubbing his eyes tiredly, "Mr Peter Phoebus Pettigrew!"

I heard a plump brunette woman whisper, "Finally," to the elderly frail man beside her who shook his head in agreement.

Contrasting the state of the whole room the Marauders had stiffened with tense attentiveness, Lily and James clutching each other's hands as if they were clutching onto their lifelines.

Peter stiffened in his seat as well.

He didn't even stand up until he was nudged on the shoulder rather roughly by an angular-faced auror beside him.

He waddled over to the chair and shakily sat down, not meeting anyone's eyes, putting one of his hands on his lap while the other scratched the first nervously. I pulled out my wand as discreetly as possible.

"The charges against the accused-"

I twirled my wand twice in a spiral pattern.

"-are as follows," Fudge paused then, his brows furrowed in confusion as he read the next line. "This can't be right," he murmured in a whisper, just loud enough to echo like a rippling pond in the hollow chamber.

"What is it, Minister?" Amelia spoke worriedly, looking between the man and the parchment gripped tightly in his hands.

"My dear Amelia, are you sure the papers haven't been swapped," Fudge spoke.

Amelia shook her head, her face now mirroring Fudge's, with the addition of a sprinkle of alarm.

"Are you sure? Cause this one- this one says- it says that Me Pettigrew over here has been charged with treason! Cause he was a death eater!"

Gasps rang across the whole room and I heard that same man from before exclaim, "Morgana's lice! We're catching a spy and a death eater in the same day!"

I saw the Marauders and Lily exchange shocked looks with each other as their eyes widened. I was stuck between trying to copy their expression and laughing my heat out.

Peter looked up, his eyes blown wide, his face growing pale with undiluted fear.

Amelia looked at Fudge as he had just confessed to banging a Chimaera.

"What?!" she exclaimed, hurriedly leaned over to look at the parchment in front of Fudge, "That can't be possible- I clearly remember Pettigrew's charges were related to bribery!"

Her eyes scanned the words on the parchment before they widened even further, her eyebrows disappearing into her hairline.

Dumbledore leaned over Fudge's other shoulder more calmly than Amelia had, with a troubled expression on his face as well.

"That's what I remember reading as well, Ms Bones," he spoke with polite confusion with sounded odd on the otherwise all-knowing professor.

Fudge looked at the parchment flusteredly, "Yes, yes- I remember reading the briefing too- it couldn't have been tampered with though. It's been locked in my office the whole time- no, no- no possible way- unless something charmed it right now! But that's impossible, isn't it? No way anyone could have done!"

Dumbledore ignored the man's words, instead focusing on the parchment, extending his wizened hand towards it.

"If I may."

"Yes, of course-" Fudge muttered, his mind seemingly reeling for the second time that day.

Honestly, how did this idiot become Minister?

He handed the parchment over to Dumbledore, who held it nimbly in one his hands while the other stroked his great white beard. Dumbledore turned the parchment around, inspecting it closely. He murmured things under his breath and tapped the paper occasionally with his wand which we had just pulled out.

After a few moments of this(and me impatiently waiting for them to continue), Dumbledore finally put the paper down, looking up to address the immensely curious room.

"There are recent traces of magic on this," he spoke, his voice level and calming despite the restlessness of everyone surround him, "however, it's too recent. It seems that only someone in this room could have charmed it, or to be more accurate," Dumbledore paused, "uncharmed it."

Confused whispers rose across the hall.

"What d'you mean Professor?" Amelia asked confusedly, voicing everyone's questions.

"It seems to be Ms Bones that the changed text you are reading at the moment had already been imprinted onto this parchment, even when you first laid your hands on it," Dumbledore said, "Hidden by those charges of bribery which had been formed by a concealing charm. And the caster at this moment had just taken off that charm. I must admit, the magic was very carefully placed. It took me a few moments to notice it..." the wizard chuckled as he trailed off, "No matter though, we must continue with the trial, isn't that right Cornelius?"

Fudge snapped out of his perplexion, bringing his head back slightly as if trying to force all that information into his brain before jerkily nodding and turning back towards the whispering wizengamot and the trembling animagus.

"Right, yes-" Fudge shaking his head slightly as he vaguely gestured towards the woman beside him, "Amelia, continue."

Amelia nodded blankly with an expression somewhere between Fudge's and Dumbledore's, flipping over a page in the folder.

She read some words for a second before she paused, just staring at it, as if she couldn't seem to understand what was in front of her.

Then she let out a chuckle.

"What is it, Madame?" Fudge asked, almost snappishly.

"She charm- um-" Madame Bones cleared her throat amusedly, "erh- uncharmed the folder as well."

Madame Bones then with the same expression scanned the room.

Whispers echoed across the room at the word 'her' as every person looked around hastily at each and every woman present in the room.

Shepherding myself into the movements I looked around the room frantically as well. Firstly looking at Lily, who looked at me at the exact same time causing us both to don sheepish expression and turn away.

I felt Amelia's eyes glaze over my side as well and I busied myself with looking at a wiry blonde woman bearing a stark resemblance to a porlock, just hoping that no one would notice my heart hammering in my chest the way a carpenter hammers a nail. She didn't even spare me a second before rotating her eyes to scan the rest of the room, no doubt hoping to catch sight of Ms Brown.

"What's written as the proof Ms Bones?" Dumbledore asked, softly redirecting her and the committee's attention back towards the trial as he stared at Peter intently, his brows furrowing by the tiniest fraction due to some unrecognizable emotion.

Amelia dragged her eyes towards Dumbledore, nodding softly before looking once at Peter and then back at the folder.

"It says," Amelia spoke calmly with the slightest undertone of nervousness, "to check his left arm."

* * *

**I know, I know I'm horrible. I keep you waiting for such a long time and then don't even throw that filthy rat in Azkaban in this chapter! But I'm sowwy, that's how I had already planned the story. And on the bright side, that glorious moment is not that far away!**


	34. Ratatatatatajar

**Guys, I'm really busy these days so I'll probably only be able to update once a week. I hope that that's ok.**

**Song for this chapter 'Rat Trap' by The Boomtown Rats.**

* * *

The words echoed across the room. A solution. So simple and yet so much more complex than it should have been.

Dumbledore pressed his lips together, the ever-present twinkle in his eyes dimming.

"Very well then," he spoke, his eyes grave, "Let's mo-"

He was cut off by Peter throwing himself off the chair, his feet landing on the marble floor with a thud. He didn't waste time in making a dash towards the door, slipping and sliding in the hurried process.

He didn't make it far though before the chains near his leg sprung into action, snapping around his ankle with a reverberating clang.

The action caused Peter to trip, landing face-first onto the floor, the only cushioning being his arms which he had brought to the front of his face mid-fall.

He let out a soft groan as the room burst into harsh whispers. Three of the aurors from before moved forward, each donning various degrees of glares on their faces.

They harshly pulled him up, his robes dragging along the floor like a ragtag trail, waving to-and-fro with each step taken.

"Please, pl-please, I'm innocent, let me go! D-Dumbledore you must believe me! I was in the o-order. I w-wouldn't b-betray you," his pleas filled the room, more desperate than Umbridge's and more pitiful than the other accused's.

The auror's were unmoved by his words, throwing him onto the seat roughly as the remaining chains wrapped around the man more rigidly and urgently then they had previously, as if trying to wrap the little worm in a metallic cocoon.

"I wouldn't do it, I-I COULDN'T do it," Peter stuttered out, struggling and squirming in the chains like a slug having salt sprinkled over it.

"Check his arm, Paddy," Amelia ordered, addressing one of the aurors who had grabbed onto the Peter during his attempt at fleeing, ignoring his shouts and pleas.

The man, Paddy, raised his wand and unclamped the binds around Peter's left arm which had been shut over his robes making them impossible to get off without tearing.

"NO!" Peter shouted, pulling his now free arm towards his chest, "I'm innocent! I'm innocent! Surely you can't- you can't believe that folder! We don't even know who's given it! Y-you just CAN'T! Let me go!"

"Incarcerous," Paddy muttered coolly. Ropes shot out of his wand, wrapping itself around Peter's arm before pulling it down, binding it to the arm of the chair.

He moved forward with a scowl on his face, gripping the sleeves of Peter's black robes before pulling it back with a jerky motion, almost tearing it off in the process.

The smooth, unmarked skin of his hand was visible to the whole room. People whispered amongst themselves, pointing and nodding towards it like tourists at the zoo pointing at animals.

"There's nothing here ma'am," Paddy said unnecessarily as if Amelia wasn't already staring at his arm with unshrouded curiosity.

Amelia hummed in response, leaning back in her seat disappointedly.

Dumbledore, however, picked up his wand which he had placed on the table in front of him.

"Revelio," he whispered.

One word. Four syllables. Seven letters.

A mere whisper.

Echoing across the room.

It seemed to carry a ripple through the air, turning each head towards the centre of the room, where the rat seemed to turn paler and paler by the second.

I finally seemed to understand what the butterfly effect meant, watching the room revolve around that one word. One word that could make or break a man's life. A clap to a hurricane.

As if a drop of ink had been dripped onto Peter's arm, a black spot emerged in its centre.

It spread itself in fine lines that twisted and twirled across his skin, the tantalising motion captivating each person in the room, either with fear or awe.

I watched as it formed a familiar figure.

First the skull, then it's unhinged jaw and finally, the curling and slithering serpent.

Gasps bombarded the room with a viciousness- no more ones of shock- but of bone chilling, unnerving fear.

I suppressed a shudder at the sight of the mark which brought up unwanted memories. Memories which I had tried so hard to repress but had never been able to. A chill seemed to settle on the back of my neck which I tried to ignore with everything ounce of strength in me.

I watched as the twinkle from Dumbledore's eyes completely vanished (something that didn't happen often) as he stared at the mark.

Peter stared at the mark too for a few seconds as if hoping it would disappear before he looked up, his eyes watery, his lips quivering.

His eyes darted around the room before it landed on the Marauders and Lily.

"Guys..." he whispered, "Please... my friends... p-please, Padfoot, Prongs, Moony... y-you've got to, please... don't let them t-take me away! Th-they'll throw me in A-Azkaban! Pl-"

"You... are a death eater?"

It was Remus who spoke, interrupting Peter in the middle of his pleadings. His voice was meek, as if he couldn't believe what was happening, couldn't believe that any of this could be true.

"What could I have done?!" shouted Peter desperately, his eyes darting between the four. Dumbledore, Bones and Fudge(who had finally snapped gained back his bearings of mind) had their heads bent together as they furiously discussed something in hushed whispers. They were too busy to stop the conversation occurring right now. The rest of the wizengamot however, seemed to hang onto each word escaping the newly-discovered death eater's mouth.

"The Dark Lord..." I saw people exchange terrified glances at his mention, "you can't imagine... he has weapons, he forced me... I was never brave like you lot! I was never brave like you Sirius, James, Remus, Lily..."

Sirius had a murderous expression on his face. The only thing that seemed to be stopping him from jumping over the barrier and pummeling Peter into a bloody pulp was James' hand resting on his shoulder.

"You were the Order's spy as well, weren't you?" Lily whispered harshly. I saw tears form in her eyes as she spoke.

Tears of anger, and tears of sorrow.

"He forced me to," Peter said, his eyes darting around nervously, "I didn't want to! He forced me..."

"A year Pettigrew, you were passing information to him for a whole year! It wasn't a one-time, spur of the moment thing," Sirius whispered furiously, "The Prewett twins, Dorcas, Edgar, Benjy... all dead- cause of you."

I saw Lily choke back a sob at the mention of Dorcas and hesitantly wrapped my hand around her shoulder in awkwardly-offered comfort.

"He was taking over everywhere!" Pettigrew exclaimed desperately, as if any of his pleas would make sense at the moment, "What was there to gain by refusing him?"

James shook his head, "You disgust me." He pulled Lily into his side, unknowing to the presence of my hand which I retracted back gratefully.

"Please... please, my friends," Peter gasped as the discussion among the questioner seemed to finish. "Please... my friends, please..." he tried to mutter out, hoping to convince them before his fate was sealed, hoping to have them by his side.

"We are not your friends," Remus muttered out, his eyes having grown as hard as steel upon hearing the names of the dead, his voice no longer meek as he spoke.

Spoke the words that had been silently hovering between Lily and the three Marauders; and Peter - they weren't friends, not anymore at least.

And now, they never will be.

Before Peter could speak again, with his watery eyes and his shivering shoulders, Fudge attracted the attention of the whole committee again.

"Settle down now, settle down," though his words were commanding, his nervous and shaky voice betrayed any farce of authoritarianism he had been trying to conjure, "Very well now... (Merlin's beard)... very well. Time for the vote."

Dumbledore's voice boomed across the courtroom, "All those in favour of clearing the accused of said set of charges."

Not a single hand rose.

"And all those in favour of conviction?"

Hands rose softly, painting the board with a clear victory by the majority.

Peter burst out crying.

Fat, ugly tears rolling down his cheeks and he screamed his throat raw with defeating "No"s. He thrashed against the binds, pleading and begging to be left free.

Everyone grimaced at his behaviour, I saw a brunet fully cringe backwards after a particularly loud sob.

But no one held any expression of pity for him.

Realising that his act was going to get him nowhere Peter quieted down, changing his tactics so fast that I was convinced that if his animagus form wasn't a rat then it would have surely been a chameleon. He sneered at everyone angrily

"I'm NOT going to Azkaban," he spat mutinously before he started shifting.

No... not shifting, transforming.

His head shrunk and his body morphed as the chains around him grew looser.

The wizengamot looked on in shock as looks of realization dawned upon the Marauders and Lily.

"GET HIM!" Sirius bellowed.

The four beside me sprung into action.

Peter had disappeared into the mounts of chains and you could hear the clanging of the metal as he ran among them, trying to escape

A small mousy body peeked its head out from near the chair's leg before making a mad dash across the room.

Remus jabbed his wand forward and a blue light emerged from it, which I recognised as the Animagus-Reversal Spell, but missed the rat by a few inches.

James went next shouting a stupefy that also missed Peter but succeeded in uprooting a tile from the floor prompting screams of fear and panic.

"Don't hurt anyone," Lily spoke urgently before shooting an Impendimenta from her wand that also missed the rat.

The four continued randomly shooting spells, now assisted with the Aurors, Madame Bones and some members of the committee. I looked between their failed attempts and Dumbledore who was watching the scene gravely making no move to help, making him even more useless than Fudge who was at least trying to order people around (though with a lot of added cursing).

Realising that these idiots were just gonna let Peter get away I pulled out my wand again and tore a piece of paper from the folder in front of me. I flicked my wand and watched as the paper transfigured into a small jar before muttering. I tapped the jar and muttered "Infragilis". I proceeded to unscrew it and then levitated the container along with the lid off my palm, watching as it followed the movement of my wand.

I saw Sirius blast a confringo at the rat who had been dodging between the auror's legs (causing one of the auror's to topple backward with a shriek) when I saw my chance.

The rat jumped away from the spell and I quickly moved the ar forward. Mid-jump, I snapped the jar shut around the rat's body, (almost knicking his head off in the process).

The cap screwed itself tight before the container fell to the ground, emitting a soft thunk.

The chaos in the room wore down. Everybody stared at the jar.

I softly levitated the jar up again, before harshly depositing it right in front of Fudge.

Everyone's eyes remained fixed on the jar as it rolled around lazily on the desk, with a squeaking and scampering brown rodent inside.

* * *

**Infragilis - An incantation I came up with for the unbreakable charm.**

**Someone tell me wth was going on in my brain when I named this chapter. ****Seriously, if someone can tell me then it would really really help cause my own brain is a mystery to me sometimes.**

**Also, why is it that every time I try to search up songs related to treachery or revenge or lying or manipulation for this story the only thing the internet recommends is relationship songs, or to be more precise songs about exes.**

**Nah, I just want a song about the protagonist being an awful person. That's it.**


	35. Mad-Eye gets Mad

**I can't believe how long this chapter became, I hadn't expected this at all.**

**Also, another reminder that if any of you have any problem with morally grey characters then this isn't the story for you all. It is a revenge story after all.**

**Song for this chapter, 'What The Hell' by Avril Lavigne**

* * *

"Mr Peter Phoebus Pettigrew," Fudge announced, a frown etched onto his face, his brows furrowed together till they were almost one as he stared at the scampering rat still present on his desk, "You have been sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban for charges of treason and anti-nationalism."

The wizengamot for the past half-hour had been deciding and issuing sentences to the people on trial in the same order in which they had convicted them, so naturally, Peter, who had just been sentenced, had come last in the list.

Why no one had bothered removing Peter from the questioner's desk in the meanwhile though still remains a mystery to me...

Fudge banged the gravel with an echoing thud and as if on cue a wave of not-so-subtle whispers emerged in the hall. The occupants of the room got up, loitering around like students in a classroom. The grinding of feet on marble could be heard as everyone got up to leave, hunched together in gossiping groups of two's and three's, vaguely resembling the form of two-legged hyenas. Snippets of their conversation entered my ear as I got up as well to walk out.

"Merlin's Scott! Can you believe it? In all my years, never- blimey- never have I ever- such an intriguing hearing..."

"Can't wait till Maria hears about this. Reckon this is what she assumed I did when she heard I was a wizengamot member, know what I mean? They just assume we catch bad guys all the time. Now I can tell her that's true with pride!"

"Who do you think brought in that folder, aye? It seems a bit dodgy, doesn't it?"

"It takes years to find so much proof. I think old Dumbledore might have dunnit. No, no hear me out- who else would be talented enough? He defeated both Grindelwald and Voldemort. It had to be him. It just got to be!"

I almost snorted. Gently grabbing Lily's arm to guide her, I headed towards the entrance hall leading the way for the three Marauders to numbly follow. They were all silent except for Sirius who had taken the opposite route and was furiously mumbling something to himself which basically consisted of many "that little traitor"s and "if I could only get my hands on him"s in various forms, James nodding jerkily beside him.

Aurors swarmed towards the accused, shepherding them out of the hall in a packed group, forming a barrier between them and the wizengamot members. I saw one of the aurors; with springy, curly brown hair; walk up to the front of the room and roughly grab Peter's jar before heading towards the exit, ignoring the way Peter was slamming into the walls of the container with each step she took. The little treacherous rat was squeaking incessantly, and I could almost hear him trying to prove his innocence in his whiny little tone.

The squeaking increased as the auror passed us. I snuck a glance their way and saw him, clinging onto the wall nearest to us, his eyes fixed on our group, trying to get his voice heard.

Naturally, my company pointedly ignored him, walking out of the room at a quickening pace.

"HOLD ON," a gruff voice called out from behind us once we were a bit away from the trial room

The clanking of wood on marble could be heard nearing as we all turned around. I stared, unnerved, as Moody's normal eye flicked from one of us to the other while his electric-blue eye whizzed among the emerging crowd behind us.

"Where's Pettigrew?" he asked roughly, a low growl in his voice, as he came to a stop in front of us.

We were all saved from answering as just that moment the brunette auror walked out. She spotted Moody immediately(it wasn't like he was hard to miss), and headed towards him in a rush.

"Auror Moody," she greeted with an awkward little bow which Moody waved off as he reached for the jar.

He picked it up and examined it closely. For the first time since I had known him, both his eyes were fixed on the same thing. Peter squeaked frighteningly and scampered as far away from Moody as he could.

"Nasty little traitor," Moody grumbled angrily, "Hate people like him. Cowards!"

If I thought Peter looked frightened before, it was nothing compared to how he looked now. He was completely frozen to the spot, his eyes widened (I didn't even know rats could widen their eyes) and the only visible motion coming from him being the nervous twitching of his whiskers.

"AND YOU THREE!" Moody roared suddenly looking at the James, Sirius and the brunette, the only aurors present in the room, making everyone else jump, "Amelia told me everything! Why did this," he jabbed a finger towards me, "singer have to catch the rat? What were you three- all the aurors- DOING?!"

All three of the aurors paled under moody's one-eyed stare, the brunette looking about ready to pass out.

Remus, Lily and I exchanged a look, before slowly stepping back. Not wanting to get involved in this.

"Oh no you don't," Moody said as his blue-eyes fixed on Lily and Remus, the other eye still stuck on the aurors, "Don't think you two will be getting away. You both had been trained by me too- for the Order, sure, but trained nevertheless- you deserve the telling off as much as they do. Reckon you thought you could just let down your guard, aye? War is over- yippy skippy- time to become oblivious fools prancing about with your head in the clouds!"

The five shrunk back and I acted as if I was abashed and I looked on with barely suppressed laughter.

"Isn't it bad enough that our department has been disgraced by this filth?" he shook the jar roughly to emphasis his point, Peter let out another series of frightened squeaks as he tumbled harshly from one side to the other, "No! You lot had to go in there and act like a bunch of bumbling fools! I've met socks that have been more useful then you all!"

The Marauders and Lily were all avoiding Moody's eyes(both of them) and were instead looking around sheepishly.

The brunette, however, spoke up albeit shaking like a leaf.

"W- we didn't know he was an a- animagus," she said, wringing her hands nervously, her eyes darting everywhere around the room, "H-he caught us off g- guard."

I saw the Marauders and Lily exchange looks, before looking down even more abashedly, making it clear to anyone who would have been looking that they knew about Peter's animagus status. Fortunately for them though no one was.

Moody disfigured face twisted until it held a frighteningly uncanny resemblance to a snarling Chimaera.

"Caught you off guard?" he growled and the brunette trembled even harder, "Are you an auror or not? Caught you off guard? CONSTANT VIGILANCE! That's the first rule of being an auror!"

"We'll do better, sir- I'll do better," the brunette blurted out, her voice higher than before. The others vigorously shook their heads in agreement, their voices failing them.

"You better. And tell the other aurors who were in there as well to do so as well," Moody grunted, "Buffoons... I'm stuck with complete, sodding buffoons."

The brunette nervously moved to take the jar from Moody but he pulled his arm back.

"No need, go back to your office," he growled out and the brunette didn't waste a moment, nodding hurriedly before running off.

"I'm not trusting the traitor with her, or any of you all for that matter," he mumbled more to himself than anyone, whizzing his eye back to the marauders, "He needs to be kept in the ministry dungeons till a portkey for Azkaban can be arranged. Can't let him get away before that now, can we? I've got two level 5 aurors for this job. Personally trained them in the war too, you all might know them from the Order- well, not you- " he said looking towards me, "Best they are. Very best... ahh, here they come!"

I turned to spot a male and a female auror walk towards us.

My breath stuck in my throat.

"There you are," Moody spoke grumpily. He the jar towards the two so that they could take it, twisting his lumpy nose slightly in disgust when his eyes fell back on the rat, "Take care of him will ya Longbottoms?"

Alice and Frank.

They both had changed a lot since I had last seen them.

Both their faces had worn out a bit due to age as it did with everyone.

Alice's dyed-blonde pixie had now grown so that it could now be arranged in a ponytail behind her head (though because of its short length it looked more like a bun). Frank's hair had thinned, signs of premature balding showing itself with clarity and I felt a smile tug at the edge of my lips as I thought of how much I could tease him for it.

Alice muscles had become more toned and defined with her years of auror training. Frank's shoulders had become broader due to the same reasons.

Alice had smile lines at the edge of her mouth, and near the edges of her eyes due to their usual crinkling. Frank had callouses all over his hands, his nails chipped and uneven.

Alice now walked with a slight sag to her left, which was strange because she always used to put more weight on her right leg when she was in Hogwarts. Frank had apparently taken a habit of resting his thumbs in his pockets.

Yes, it was clear to see. They had changed quite a bit.

But their eyes... they still glittered with the same mirroring mischief, emphasised with the tug of their smirks.

And that in itself brought me so much familiarity and comfort, despite the overwhelming proof of the time passed glittering all of us.

"Oh don't worry Moody, we will," Alice winked cheekily causing Moody to grunt unamusedly.

I almost laughed, only Alice could get away with being cheeky with Mad-Eye.

"So that's the mole, aye? Frank said looking at Peter with his head cocked slightly to the side, "Or I guess you could say- the rat." He looked at everyone with an expectant grin.

No one responded. Though the three Marauders looked like they wanted to laugh.

"No one? Ok fine, jeez," Frank responded with mock-grumpiness.

"Just take him to the dungeons," Moody said, looking like we was ready to yeet himself out of a window, "And make sure he doesn't escape. We don't need any other disasters from our department's side."

Alice looked at the jar smirking, "Don't worry, we'll totally... ahh, take care of him." She exchanged a wicked gleam with Frank causing Peter to teeter rapidly.

Moody though seemed unperturbed(wait- actually, he seemed kinda amused), "Go off then, you two."

Alice and Frank nodded and then walked away side by side, the jar in their hand.

I wanted to run after them and tackle them in a fierce hug that would put a bear to shame, and loudly exclaim how much I missed them for the whole world to hear.

But I knew now was not the time.

"You all better get to Hogwarts too," Moody murmured as the two Longbottoms disappeared from sight, "there's a portkey arranged in the magical transportation department."

He walked off then passing by me and muttering a short, monotonous, "Good job," on the way which was the best you could expect from him.

As he walked off I watched with a grin as the Marauders and Lily released breaths of relief. I was just about to take the mickey out of them when I was interrupted.

"Oh- and Black, Potter," Moody called out. We all turned around to face the senior auror, Sirius and James exchanging frightened looks on the way, "You both can kiss that promotion goodbye."

He then turned around as swiftly as his wooden leg would allow and walked off limply, leaving a gaping Sirius and James behind.

* * *

**Gather around, my precious(es), let me tell you a wonderous story.**

**_So a wee little author was one day enjoying an average day (and by that I mean remaining in a constant state of sleepiness while being swamped with school, cause school sucks), and then she checks quotev as a little break. A notification has popped in the relatively clear notification box. She checks it thinking that she's just gotten a story update or a like/reply on some random comment she had made, so imagine her shock when she sees that she has received a message! Curious, she checks the comment and her eyes widen in shock and happiness when she reads the short message-_**

**_"Your story, I'm Back, has been nominated for The 2020 Liquid Luck Awards"_**

**_AAAHHHH!_**

**Ok, ok jokes apart... I'm so happy! I can't even describe how happy! To know that someone thought my story was good enough to nominate for an award is such an amazing feeling!**

**Can you guys please go and vote on my story, please? Voting closes on October 10th. Just go on quotev and search the awards up.**


	36. Prisons and Memories

**You all have no idea how long I've been waiting to write this chapter! **

**I just heard the 'Norman Fucking Rockwell' album by Lana Del Ray and I'm in love. I'm gonna listen to all her albums cause she's just that amazing. Anyone have any suggestions on which order I should hear them in?**

**Also, how many of you saw the US Presidential debate? You don't realise how amazing it was until you compare it to the blandness of the Vice Presidential debate. I freaking lost it when Trump said, "No, you were on second point," when Biden accidentally skipped to the third point.**

**I don't know why some people said it was unbearable, I loved it! But maybe that's just cause I don't live in the US right now. I am an American citizen, I just don't live there. ****For all those who loved watching the debate and found it as hilarious as I did though, you'll probably like 'The Presidential Debate BUT Just Interrupting' on youtube and '1st Presidetial Debate: Ace Attorney Edition' on reddit.**

**Song for this chapter is 'Lovely' by Billie Eilish, Khalid.**

* * *

I slipped past the doors of the dungeon just as Frank was about to pull them shut.

I flicked my wand inside my pocket, jamming the lock system just as I heard the click of the key in the lock, echoing in the relatively empty dungeon like ripples in a pond.

The prison was dimly lit, covered with soggy patches and green mould. Dust had accumulated on the walls and floor for so long that they now seem to stick to the stone. I was thankful for the dim lighting in the room as it prevented the footprints I was leaving in many muddy spots across the floor from being visible.

The room was unhygienic, to say the least, but that didn't really surprise me.

The wizarding world throws criminals into essentially a torture chamber that is Azkaban, they don't really understand the concept of a prisoner's basic human rights.

Peter was curled up on the floor in the far corner of the room. As if trying to fit into its surroundings, his clothes were crinkled and frayed, with mud now sticking to the places that were in contact with the floor, and his hair completely dishevelled. He was nervously chewing his nails, whimpering every now and then while his eyes seemed more watery than usual.

I undid the disillusionment charm on me, leaning my back against the door of the dungeons, the only clean part of the room.

Peter didn't notice me, his unfocused, anxious eyes fixed upon a crack in the floor, his thumb now being gnawed by his teeth.

"Ever heard that muggle poem," I whispered, my smooth voice filling the room causing the little rat to jump. He looked in my direction and his eyes widened in horror while I twirled a strand of my brown hair around my index finger, "Something about a mouse and a clock... how did it go again? Oh yes-

Hickory dickory dock  
The rat got a nasty shock  
All games and fun  
Till his lies came undone  
Hickory dickory dock..."

I grinned at the man still curled up on the floor, his back pressing against the stone wall, his whole body trembling.

"No, that wasn't quite right, was it?" I tutted, shaking my head in mock-sorrow, I then cocked my head to the side "But you get the gist."

Peter was shaking extremely violently now, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"You," he finally breathed out shakily pointing a finger towards me, "Lisa! How are you- You can't be- YOU'RE ALIVE!"

He looked at me as if he had just seen a ghost which, I suppose, in his eyes he had.

I chuckled; a short, humourless chuckle.

"Caught on, have you?"

Peter shook his head aggressively from side to side, interrupting it's already vibrating motion.

"No, this can't be- I'm hallucinating... It's not- she's dead, she's dead. It can't be! She's dead, she's dead. Lisa's dead."

Dead.

Hearing that word again and again struck a pang in my heart.

Though I suppose it was better than being reminded off what I actually was.

Forgotten.

"You're not real... she's not real- I can't, this can't... NO!"

He shouted the last part, clutching at his hair and pulling it, as if trying to yank out the thoughts from his brain.

He muttered for a few more minutes, while I watched on in irritation waiting for him to shut up. He finally did with a little shake of his head and a deep breath.

"Are you done?" I muttered sardonically, not bothering anymore to place a grin on my face, growing aggravated from the little traitor's theatrics.

He raised his head, looking me straight in the eye with a glaze of defiance in his own.

"You're not real."

I quirked an eyebrow and that seemed to drain out all the defiance from the man. I took my back off the metal door and walked towards him, crouching down just in front of him as he sank even further into the walls.

"Believe what you want Pettigrew," I said my voice mellow, an opposite to the fire that seemed to burn in my chest, "But all of this," I said my eyes running over the cell, "is real. And- " I reached out a perfectly manicured nail and placed it on the man's left arm right above the dark mark, "- so is that," I trailed my hand upwards, tapping his cheek once as he flinched from the touch, whimpers rising from his throat, "And the good news is that you now you don't get to pretend otherwise."

I stood up then and walked back towards the door, wiping the hand I had touched him with on my robes.

"So enjoy your life in Azkaban, Pettigrew!" I spoke with a smirk, my back still facing him, my shoes stepping in a puddle that caused a splashing echo to fill the room highlighting my voice.

I turned around to face him again, my robes, which I had enchanted to black, billowing out around me like a tornado before dying out.

He held a pitiable expression on his face; his eyes seemingly begging for help, for an escape from a lifetime of despair and pain.

And I felt a fire in my chest roar like an angry dragon as my smirk died down.

How dare he expect me to help when he had done nothing to help me?!

I had to pause as buried memories came to the forefront of my mind. Black robes and silver masks, cobblestones and metallic shackles, charcoal black hair and ear-piercing screams. And laughter- condescending, sick laughter that never seemed to leave my ears.

"I hope that the dementors make you relive every single moment of your wretched life," I tried to keep my voice as mellow as possible but it still came out with a cutting bite, "I hope they remind you of how you betrayed everyone you supposedly held dear, they remind you of everyone you've hurt, every single person who you have sacrificed to please your precious Dark Lord. I hope you remember every single thing you've done to people with such vividness THAT IT DRIVES YOU MAD!"

I paused, trying to get my breath under control and my emotions in check, this wasn't the time to lose control.

I saw the look in Peter's eyes. The widening of realisation in them.

The realisation that I was real, I was alive.

I saw shame in them. I saw anger. I saw sorrow. I saw shock.

I saw everything, every single freaking emotion which he could have been possibly feeling at this moment but I didn't see the emotion that I actually wanted to see.

Guilt.

I couldn't help it, I couldn't help it when the words tumbled out of my mouth.

"And I hope you remember everything you did to me."

He opened his mouth to say something but I didn't bother listening. I swung around and grabbed the handle of the door, pulling it open as I stepped out.

I turned back around to see Peter's eyes widen with shock as he scrambled to get up. He rushed towards me about to shout something. The harsh echo of an 'L' greeted me before I shut the door in his face with a resounding bang.

I reached for my wand in my pocket and flicked it again, the whirring of the locks sounding before ending with a short click.

I just stood there for a few seconds, staring at the grey metal, breathing hard as I tried to control my anger.

When I finally did I felt my head turn heavy, as if I was drowning, like the world was a blurry mess with the only clarity being that of the feeling of dizziness. I took a step back, trying to distance myself not only Pettigrew but also from the chaos that is my emotions.

I realised with a start that I had forgotten to put the disillusionment charm back on me.

I hastily put on the damned spell checking the corridor to make sure no one had seen me, the movement taking all my strength.

As my brain got fuzzier I cursed myself for letting my emotions get the best of me, for getting distracted, for becoming such a mess so easily. For letting this stupid little meet undo all the work I had done to forget everything.

Cause now every single stupid thing reminded me of that time. Thee deaths, the pain, the suffering, the fear. Everything from the colour of the walls around me to the sleeves of my robes.

I stumbled towards the nearest washroom, glad that it was empty so that no one would be suspicious of the opening and closing of a stall's door on its own.

I dropped the charm of me before letting out a shaky breath, dropping my face in my hands as I leaned against the stall's wall.

My breathing was ragged. Screams seemed to echo in my ears. Uneven, horrifying screams. My own, and others. Their words swimming around me.

I focused on my breathing.

Somehow I'd ended up on the floor, the cold of the marble sinking into the skin of my palms. I felt a cold sweat on my forehead and shakily reached up to wipe it off.

This wasn't the time for a mental breakdown my brain seemed to chide but my body refused to comply.

Pushing myself, trying to overcome these new limits, I raised my wand and changed the colour of my robes back to grey. I then raised my wand to my face, the limb feeling heavy, as I morphed myself into Mica feeling a slight spurt of relaxation as the familiar feel of the charms washed over me.

I sat there for a few seconds, letting myself calm down, letting myself breath.

Once I felt the crashing waves in my mind die down, I weakly pushed myself to my feet, standing still for a moment to make sure my limbs could support my weight.

I took a few deep breaths again. I couldn't let anyone see me like this.

After I was sure that I was feeling stable I walked out of the stall. I looked at myself in the mirror. Except for the weary look on my face, I looked completely normal.

I smiled, forcing the weariness of my face.

I walked out of the washroom and headed towards the staircases, an air of casualness surrounding me contrasting the whirlwind in my chest.

I heard shouting, real shouting this time. A recognisable male voice.

Peter.

Despite my current state, I couldn't quench my curiosity. I headed towards the source of the sound, peeking around a corner so as to not be noticed.

Frank and Alice were holding onto a struggling and squirming Pettigrew, grunting and sweating with the effort.

The three questioners from the trial; Amelia Bones, Albus Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge; stood near them, their backs facing me.

"She's alive! SHE'S ALIVE! Lisa's alive! She was in there! She was! SHE MET ME! Dumbledore, you have to believe me, please you have to! She's NOT DEAD! Let me go, I have to talk to Dumbledore- she's alive. LISA POTTER IS ALIVE!"

"Potter?" Bones murmured over Peter's screams, confusedly looking towards the headmaster, "I didn't know there was a Lisa Potter?"

"There isn't!" Fudge said a pompous, matter-of-fact tone, "Pettigrew's gone barmy- or maybe he's just trying to divert our attention to escape. I've known three generations of Potters and I'll assure you that not one of them was named 'Lisa'."

"Maybe he's talking about young Alyssa Potter," Alice said breathlessly, "She's a year below our kid, Neville, at Hogwarts, maybe Lisa's a nickname for h-"

"NO! NOT ALYSSA! ELIZABETH! Dumbledore you've gotta do something! She's alive, I swear on it! She's alive!"

Fate, though it seems, was not without a sense of irony.

When he had been lying, everyone had believed him.

But now that he told the truth, no one did.

"Well that just does it," Fudge muttered irritably, "There's no Potter called Elizabeth. Take him away!"

Frank and Alice nodded before dragging Peter away.

Peter screamed and thrashed the whole way, his shouts reverberating in the hall. It seemed to echo with the voices I had heard before in my head.

"Let me go! Let me go! I've got to tell- Let me go!"

_"Please let me go! LET ME GO! Please!"_

"She's here, she's here! You've got to believe me!"

_"She's not the one you want, I am! Just let her go!"_

"I'll tell you everything! I'm telling you- hear me out!"

_"I can't tell you anything! I DON'T KNOW! Please just let me go! I don't-"_

"NO! NOT AZKABAN! I'm telling you the truth! Just let me go and I'LL PROVE IT!"

_"We need to get out! Lisa please, we need to get out! You need to help us!"_

"WHY CAN'T YOU STOP BEING SO BLIND! OPEN YOUR EYES!"

_"STAY AWAKE! LISA, OPEN YOUR EYES DAMN IT, STAY AWAKE!_

"You've got to believe me! DUMBLEDORE HELP!"

_"Pettigrew, help me, please!"_

I clutched the walls as I felt my legs weaken again but this time my mind stayed awake.

I watched as Pettigrew was dragged away in the same way in which I had been years ago. And I just watched, like he had that time with those beady little eyes of his.

Despite the fact that my mind was still reeling, I couldn't help but grin at the parallels.

And the words came out of my mouth before I could stop them; a cold, vindictive voice laced with dry amusement.

"Karma sure is a bitch, isn't it?"

* * *

**Please go vote in the Liquid Luck Awards on quotev, today is the last day! It would make me really, really, REALLY happy if I won.**

**And review, please? I love reading all your reviews!**


	37. Check It Twice

**Ok wow, can't believe how far I've gotten in this story. Thank you everyone, for all the support you have been showing me. **

**The song for this chapter is 'It Ain't Me' by Kygo, Selena Gomez.**

* * *

_Lisa ran out of the Transfiguration classroom, letting out a breath of relief._

_She hated that subject. Hated it to the depths of her core._

_It wasn't that she didn't understand the concepts in the subject, and McGonagall was great as always, but she didn't quite get why anyone would want to transfigure a mice into a snuffbox. It was just so redundant! And she had always had a hard time focusing on concepts and applying concepts which she didn't deem useful or wasn't interested in._

_Plus, who knows what the poor creatures went through during a transfiguration process. _

_She shoved her books in her bag as she was walking, blowing her hair out of her way irritably as she thought of where her friends might be, glad that she had a free period._

_She hadn't been looking when someone bumped into her shoulder causing her to trip with a shriek. Her feet accidentally kicked out at the other person as she was falling and the person emitted a sound between a shout and an 'oof' before tumbling RIGHT ON TOP OF HER._

_Her chin collided head-on with the rough stone below and she was sure she would have a bruise there later. The person falling on top of her did not help alleviate the pain in any way._

_She groaned._

_"Gerrof mwee," her voice came out muffled from behind her hair._

_She heard the sound of footsteps coming near her (a female voice whispering, "The blood traitor strikes again.") and the person was heaved off her._

_She heard the person, a guy apparently, whisper, "Why do we keep meeting like this?" _

_She pushed herself on her hands as she turned around to see who he was. _

_Regulus Black. Looking as posh and arrogant as always. _

_Lisa ignored him as her eyes fell on the two people who had helped him up (and called her a blood traitor) and she almost groaned, Parkinson and Crouch._

_"Watch where you're going, fake snake," Parkinson sneered out with a grin._

_"Oooh, new nickname, how creative," Lisa muttered sarcastically as she pushed herself to her feet; grabbing her bag in the process, which she was glad hadn't spilt anything; and brushed the dust off her robes._

_Janice scowled, opening her mouth to say something else but Crouch beat her to it._

_"I've said it once, and I'll say it again," Crouch growled threateningly, "Shut your yappin' or you'll regret it!"_

_Lisa rolled my eyes, too used to these antics. _

_'You'll regret it'? Like that wasn't cliche as hell._

_She swung her bag over her shoulder and turned to leave, ignoring the wannabe tough-guy._

_Apparently, Crouch didn't like that, cause as she was walking away, white sparks of a spell passed by her head barely missing her by two inches._

_She turned around, wand poised in her hand, unsurety riddled on her face knowing that she hadn't learned any spells that could possibly be useful in a duel against a third year._

_She flinched as Crouch raised his wand to shoot another spell but was stopped by a hand landing on his shoulder._

_"Let her be," Regulus muttered calmly, his voice carrying authoritativeness despite being the youngest among the three, "Slytherins stick together."_

_"But-"_

_"Slytherins. Stick. Together."_

_He said it with finality, glaring at Crouch with such ferocity that caused him to gulp._

_She watched in surprise as Crouch nodded, bringing his wand hand down (albeit reluctantly), and silently turned around with Parkinson to walk to the Transfiguration classroom where the other third-year Slytherins were heading._

_Did Crouch and Parkinson just leave her alone? Voluntarily?_

_She realised that her mouth was gaping open and quickly snapped it shut as Black turned back towards her._

_"Tha-"_

_"Save it," she was cut off by as Black just walked past her with his long strides, disappearing from the corridor before she could even react._

_She blinked in surprise before a frown donned her face and she let out a scoff. _

_Rude much. She was just going to thank him!_

_Slytherins stick together? Yeah, clearly. Seen by how Black had just ignored her... or how the whole house had been treating her this year._

_Slytherins stick together._

_Tell yourself that Black. Lie to your prejudiced self that Slytherins care for anyone other than those who shared their ideologies._

_Pfft- Slytherins stick together._

_"Bullshit," she muttered, storming out of the corridor._

The portkey dropped us right outside Hogwarts. I suggested the guys take a day off and they readily agreed. Lily and James apparated away, followed by Sirius, leaving me and Remus to trudge back to the castle alone.

Neither of us said anything as we reached our rooms, parting ways as we entered our respective rooms.

Martha was waiting there, as business-like as ever, and she briefed me about everything the record company had informed her of when I was out. I listened half-heartedly, telling Martha that I will reply to them as soon as I could when she was finished.

She nodded and calmly walked out of the room.

I closed the door behind, the lock clicking itself into place and let the charms fall from my appearance.

I admired the way Martha was. Always taking everything in stride, never complaining despite how much she had to complain about, from the way the magical world treats her kind to how much of a pain in the ass I was. I was glad that I had someone like her around me.

I walked towards the bed and fell upon it, burrowing my face in the blanket as I finally let myself smile.

I'd done it.

Peter was in Azkaban.

A feeling of giddiness rose in me as it struck me like a bat that all this was real.

After years of planning and plotting and scheming, I had finally done it. I had finally succeeded. Of course, not completely, there was still a long way to go.

But I felt like I was a step closer to the end of all this. And it seemed so achievable right now, my goals. I hadn't even realised how much cynism I had been carrying in me regarding this plan. It seemed to wash away now, like an ocean washing away the sand.

I shifted around, my back now on the bed as I faced the ceiling, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

I sat there for a few moments, letting this happiness sink in as I hummed a random tune, the ticking of the clock accompanying it.

After a few moments, I pushed myself up and let my eyes fall to the board on the wall.

The list hung there; so normal, so conventional; it could have easily been mistaken for a grocery list.

I got up from the bed and headed towards it with a smirk on my face. The red line could still be seen drawn under 'Peter Pettigrew' and I almost laughed upon seeing it.

My gaze rose higher, eyeing the sixth item on the list.

I walked towards the desk nearby looking for the red marker but not being able to find it. I did find a red ink bottle though and shrugged, picking it up.

Good enough...

I pulled out a quill and dipped it in the ink, underlining the name I'd just had my eyes fixed on, blowing on it slightly to dry it.

I stepped back to admire the sight in front of me, reading the name over and over again as if committing it to memory.

Severus Snape

I chuckled.

"I check it once, then I check it twice."

* * *

**I've decided to divide my story into different parts, each about the revenge on each person on Lisa/Mica's list. This one was about Peter Pettigrew, the next one will be published next week. I'll share the name of the story on here soon.**

**Till then, stay safe and continue plotting everyone!**


	38. Second Story

The new story is out.

It's called **I'm Back: Flutes and Nemesis**

Hope you all enjoy it!


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